Little Broken Things by Nicole Baart
Fiction
Published: November 21/17, Atria Books
Reviewed by Kirsten Lowe
This novel grabs the reader’s attention from the beginning when the main character, Quinn Basset, receives a text message from her estranged sister Nora. “I have something for you.” Well, technically its someone. As if things weren’t weird enough with text, Nora shows up with a six-year-old girl named Lucy. Her request to her sister is simple – keep Lucy safe and do not tell anyone (even their mother) about her existence. Then poof! Nora’s gone.
Obviously, there’s a sense of something sinister going on – but with her sister suddenly gone, and Lucy being oddly withdrawn and quiet, what’s Quin to do? And how can she exactly keep little Lucy a secret from their small town and noisy mother? One person who Nora can truly turn too and disclose what many be happening isn’t Quinn – but her trusted friend Ethan.
This is one of those novels I can’t get too much into without giving away the entire plot, but overall, I found this story quite satisfying - even though the book started off stronger than its ending. The story is told through multiple points of view that were pretty straight forward to follow, also it is through multiple POV’s that creates an intriguing way for the reader to piece together the mystery while the characters revel different secrets that in the end all come together.
The book itself had some dark secrets spilled into the narrative and did manage to maintain an overall heavy feel, but I would still characterize this as a lighter read in the sense that it didn’t contain any crazy sudden twists that, after a while can be daunting to read over and over again. This novel, however, just had the right amount of family dark secrets to reveal.
Little Broken Things is quieter read for those who would like to just sit back and enjoy a slower paced mystery. Besides, the readers will become totally focused on little Lucy safety, well-being and the relationships she develops with the other women is truly heartwarming.