Kathleen's mother killed herself when Kathleen was a baby and Kathleen has grown up with the same searing pain in her feet that her mother endured all her life, as well as the sensation that her tongue has been cut out. She's a soprano in an opera programme at college and her girlfriend Harry worries about her constantly, but when they take a trip back to Kathleen's home country of Ireland they find out that Kathleen's malady is far older and stranger than they could have imagined.
The story is told from four viewpoints - Kathleen, Harry, Robin and the Sea Witches - and usually this number of narrators might feel like a jumble, but here it actually worked. I think it was because the book was so long - each narrator had a chance to tell their story fully and the reader had plenty of opportunity to grow accustomed to their voice.
I really loved the two main characters in this book - Kathleen and Harry - and I thought their relationship was really strong and sweet.
In some areas it felt a bit over-long for the amount of plot that was included. There were some long descriptions about the process of composing music and there was so much narrative about the pain in Kathleen's feet. I mean, I get that chronic pain affects your life constantly, but this was a LOT of talk about Kathleen's feet.
I liked the ending to Kathleen's story. I think it worked. I wasn't too sure about the Hans Christian Anderson sub-story that was included at the end. It was okay, but it didn't really add anything to the main story and I think it would have worked better as a separate novella.
All in all this was a sweet book. not overly taxing, but an interesting read. Recommended.
4 stars