Author: Sue Rainsford
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Scribner
Published: January 21, 2020
Book Description: A haunted, surreal debut novel about an otherworldly young woman, her father, and her lover that culminates in a shocking moment of betrayal—one that upends our understanding of power, predation, and agency.
Ada and her father, touched by the power to heal illness, live on the edge of a village where they help sick locals—or “Cures”—by cracking open their damaged bodies or temporarily burying them in the reviving, dangerous Ground nearby. Ada, a being both more and less than human, is mostly uninterested in the Cures, until she meets a man named Samson. When they strike up an affair, to the displeasure of her father and Samson’s widowed, pregnant sister, Ada is torn between her old way of life and new possibilities with her lover—and eventually comes to a decision that will forever change Samson, the town, and the Ground itself.
Follow Me to Ground is fascinating and frightening, urgent and propulsive. In Ada, award-winning author Sue Rainsford has created an utterly bewitching heroine, one who challenges conventional ideas of womanhood and the secrets of the body. Slim but authoritative, Follow Me to Groundlingers long after its final page, pulling the reader into a dream between fairy tale and nightmare, desire and delusion, folktale and warning.
Rating: 3 1/2 Stars
Review: This was such a strange little book, however, it is one that I think I want to read at least one more time, as I think there is a lot to unpack here.
This novel centers around Ada and Father. They are very different, in fact, Ada calls themselves “The Cures”. People come to them to heal them, but they use very unconventional methods, including burying them in the ground on the property.
Where the story starts to take a turn is when Ada meets Samson, who comes for a cure. After that Ada and Samson start an affair. Ada begins to question whether to leave with him or stay and continue to help people. But, nothing is what it seems. There are whispers of Samson, from a sister and people around town.
The journey the author takes you on is twisty and at the end you will definitely be thinking, “What?”. The only book that I could possible compare this to is The Need by Helen Phillips. Extremely strange but yet so intriguing that you cannot put it down.
If you are looking for something different, then give this very slim book a chance. I think you will talking and thinking about this for a while.
Thank you NetGalley and Scribner for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Obsessed Bookaholic 