started as a good book by throwing us into a slightly dystopian future and trusting the reader to fill in the knowledge gaps. Baptisms in pools of warm soda, neighbouring towns with names like Paradise, food -even cheeseburgers- now coming in tinned form, wildfires burning in the north AND south. All of this points to a recent past where climate change did indeed alter the usual way of life. Into this persistent drought, it is self-explanatory that hope in the form of religion, specifically a cult, could gain such power.

now the cult portion of the book was tedious and easily telegraphed that it would morph into sexual abuse. and the main focus of the novel - the feelings of a 14yo continually abandoned by her mother - was needlessly prolonged and is the main reason my affection for the book turned. But then the worst was revealed when (finally!) the now 15yo leaves the clutches of the cult and enters a state of the art hospital that shows no signs of the dystopian affect that the reader took for granted. To be clear, the author NEVER explicitly explained why this town was so backwards, but what is the reader supposed to make of a setting that is so jarring? and of a protagonist that wrestles with her belief in both God and goodness for the better part of a year? if the real world is just outside, and the real world is not consumed by natural disaster, how is ANYONE in that town making choices that should be/would be driven by desperation?