The Clearing

Author: Heather Davis
Recommended Age: Young Adult
Publisher: Graphia
ISBN-10: 0547263678
ISBN-13: 978-0547263670
Year Published: 2010
No. Pages: 228
Genre: Historical Fiction
Main Character Gender: Mixed
Read & Reviewed by: Taylor


 
“Every day about this time, he heard the whir of dragonflies on their mission to the creek. It was familiar, but there was so much he would never know again- at least, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t.”

Amy moves to the country to live with her Aunt Mae at the start of her senior year to put an abusive relationship behind her and have a fresh start. She stumbles through the mist in the clearing behind her Aunt Mae’s cabin and meets a guy named Henry. Henry is different than any boy Amy has ever met; he speaks and dresses in an old fashioned way and treats her better than anyone ever has. Amy starts wondering who Henry really is.

One day, Amy crosses the clearing to surprise Henry, but ends up finding a greater surprise for herself. Henry has been hiding something from her. He is stuck in the endless summer of 1944. Amy has never felt better than in Henry’s world. It’s sunny and warm, there’s fresh apple pie and there’s Henry. It’s a place of refuge from her own world.

What I enjoyed in this novel was the way Heather Davis used language and created imagery that enabled me to connect with the setting and pull me in as the reader. The writing and the story took hold of me, and never let go. The imagery made me believe that I was Amy or Henry throughout the novel and I was in a dreamlike state as I read, very much a part of this world. When I finished the book, it took time for me to come back to my own reality. An example of this writing is:

“Each night I wished for things to be different. I’d lie awake in the cool darkness, breathing in the smell of fabric softener on my pillowcase and listening to the sound of late-night TV show coming from Mom and Pete’s bedroom. And I wished myself far, far away.”

Davis wrote this story from two different perspectives. The first chapter is written in first person, from Amy’s point of view, and then the next chapter would be in third person limited, from Henry’s point of view. Davis made two worlds collide while revealing Amy and her problems in present day, but giving a 1940’s flavour within Henry’s world. With Henry’s point of view, I was able to understand his view on life and was able to learn about getting drafted during WW II and how much pain and torment it could cause a family.

The way Davis formed the plot, and created the characters, drew me into the story. I believe the writing had a dream-like quality with the use of time travel and the mysterious fog in the clearing. Henry and Amy had an impossible romance, both of them coming from different times. David made sure that I kept hoping that something would change and that they could somehow be together in the end. The suspense of waiting to find out what would happen made the book irresistible.

My favourite part of the novel was the ending because it was straight forward, but refreshing. It was well thought out and everything written previously lead up to this point, this conclusion. When I thought about it, and read between the lines, the book showed its many layers. I was able to see what else was going on within Henry’s life and understand how much more complicated it was than it appeared to be on the page.

I rated this book a 10 out of 10 and I would recommend this book to anyone who loves mystery, time travel and a bit of romance.