Odd & True

Cat Winters is a treasure and I want to be bffs with all her characters.

Okay for real though. This is such a well-told story, with layers of meaning. It made me think about the way storytelling can be a way of dealing with trauma – i.e., a way of making sense of a world that doesn't always make sense. And about how, within families, both trauma and stories are retold, reenacted, and sometimes healed. About how the people you depend on can fail you, or how stories can become a lifeline when there's nothing else to hold on to. About how sometimes you have one person who protects you from the monsters – and that one person is enough. Even when you find out they are flawed, themselves. About how we choose between truth and beauty, and why, and whether that's okay.

Odd and True are both complex women with a complex relationship, and Winters isn't afraid to give that the space it needs to be messy. The plot jumping from past to future interweaves perfectly, deepening your understanding of events moment by moment, and always keeping you wondering “what really happened” – or if there's even one single answer to that question.

I love everything about how the story plays out; it's ultimately a story with so much compassion for the wounded, and so much hope of redemption. If you've never read a Cat Winters book this would be a great one to start with.