Now that Caddie is older, Christine is about fifty.”Īnd isn't that just how we think at that age? :)īrisbane, 1986, and Caddie’s still working in Christine’s bookshop, treading water, marking time, and for what? Always a booklover, she’s particularly besotted with one with a character “Cadence”, for whom she was named. “Caddie has worked for Christine on and off since she was fifteen. My thanks to netgalley and Text Publishing for an advance copy of this book. The ending was predictable and a bit of a disappointment. I’m sorry, I like my main characters to be smart. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t get incredibly frustrated with Caddie. It’s slow moving and it really wasn’t until almost the halfway point that I was drawn in. This book took a while to grab my interest. The chapters alternate as Rachel grows up and Caddie tries to solve her mystery of who the elderly woman is and what she knows. We also see Rachel’s life starting in Depression Era Pennsylvania.
But her quote is longer than what appears on paper. She goes to see an exhibit on The Fragments and meets an elderly woman, Rachel, who quotes from the Fragments. Only a few pages, fragments, remain.įast forward fifty years and Caddie Walker is a bookseller in 1986 Brisbane.
But then, right before the publication of her second book, she dies in a warehouse arson fire and the book is almost completely lost as well. Her one book was considered a masterpiece. Inga Karlson was the literary phenomenon of her day. This book is part mystery and part historical novel. My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I am happy that I've read this book, but I don't think it's particularly memorable. And as for the twist at the end, I could see it coming a mile off. On the other hand I found the New York timeline quite tedious and was bored on those alternate chapters. While I did enjoy this book, I much preferred the timeline set in Brisbane, probably because I live there and am aware of the locations mentioned in the book. What was the truth behind the fire? Did anyone else really read the book? And is Rachel legit or an imposter, making the words up on a whim? This sends Caddie off on a quest to discover the truth about the book, it's author, and the elusive Rachel. This seems impossible however, as the only people who had ever read the book perished in the fire. Fast track to 1980's Brisbane where bookseller Caddie goes to an exhibition featuring the fragments of the book, where she meets mysterious stranger Rachel, who seems to know more lines in the book than the fragments reveal. It's revered author famously perished with it. A enjoyable book, The Fragments is about a manuscript that gets destroyed by fire in 1930's New York, only a few fragments of the book remain.
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