Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver

"Mary had been free to examine the world as she saw it. Willa burrowed into that freedom as if reading a trashy romance, and it made her happy for hours at a stretch.If Willa was living in Mary's house —if that shelter had stood while the world fell apart and reassembled in its crazy ways—then her family could be sheltered there too."

I have been looking longingly at my 'to be read' pile for such a long time and this lovely Christmas gift from 2018 has been tempting me for a while now. My reticence to embark on a novel of over 400 pages during the working week has —for the most part— kept that desire at bay. Eventually though, it just seemed rude not to crack the spine and see what I'd been missing.

Reading this novel piecemeal had its own challenges. While there are two stories that shift in time between each chapter, linked in the main by the conceit that I've quoted above, 5 minute reading sessions were not the best way to take the story in. Occasionally I would forget where I was and I think this is a book suited to a period of uninterrupted enjoyment, such as a long flight or train trip.

The duelling narratives are equally compelling with the central notion of a house as shelter and the notion of Occam's razor drawing them together. The house, once home to Thatcher Greenwood, a science teacher trying to teach Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to his students in a town with only creationism on the menu. His friendship with a journalist and  Mary Treat, a scientist and real-life correspondent of Sir Charles Darwin, along with his passion for teaching scientific thought are the source of never-ending woes.

Willa's is a life full of tragedy and destruction. The suicide of her son's partner has left her guardian of a baby, her husband's father is dying, her children don't get along and post Hurricane Sandy, her house is falling down. Her attempts to secure funding for the house due to its potential historical significance link to the story of the house's former inhabitant. 

So much happens in both stories, that I found I had to re-read quite a bit after I'd finished the book. That unearthed some meaningful connections littered among the words. The way the two stories weave together cemented by Dunwiddie bricks is deftly handled and only becomes truly apparent upon close examination.

We live in turbulent times and this attempt to link the horrors of climate change into the story via Tig's approach to child rearing seems ominously en-pointe in a week where the threat of Corona Virus has people fighting over toilet paper.

5 out of 5 - one to ponder.