Review: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton

Title: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
Author: Leslye Walton
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: March 25, 2014
Source: Own
Find it Here: Amazon, Goodreads

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava—in all other ways a normal girl—is born with the wings of a bird.

In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naïve to the twisted motives of others. Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the Summer Solstice celebration.

That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava’s quest and her family’s saga build to a devastating crescendo.

First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

My Thoughts: 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender is a beautifully written book that captures the reader from the very first page. This book is so underrated on the blog scene and I would really like more people to know about it and to read it! Even though I just finished it at the beginning of this year, I already know it's one of my top books of 2015!

By the title of this book, The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, you would think that it is mostly about Ava. Even though that's true in a sense and the book is narrated by Ava, the story takes the reader back all the way to Ava's great grandmother and sort of explains why the family is a little bit strange. I love that the story follows Ava's maternal line all the way back to France and tells how strange each and every one of her family members were. 

The story is beautiful and rich and jammed packed into just three hundred pages. I would imagine that for a book like this every single word is carefully picked. Each sentence creates an image for the reader and every paragraph seems necessary for the story to be complete. Every character is given somewhat of a back story to the point that there are literally no flat characters in this book. Everyone has their own unique story. 

I can't believe The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows is Leslye Walton's debut novel! I really hope she keeps writing and that she continues to dazzle readers with magical realism. She is an absolutely beautiful writer and I will definitely continue to read her work!