The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle Kate Quealy-Gainer, Assistant Editor Fowley-Doyle, Moïra The Accident Season. Dawson/Penguin, 2015 [304p] ISBN 978-0-525-42948-7 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 8-12 October is a strange and often disastrous time for Cara’s family: every year, the autumn month brings with it inexplicable accidents and leaves in its wake bruises, scars, and sometimes death, as in the case of Cara’s father and uncle. This year seems particularly ominous: a girl named Elsie from Cara’s school has gone missing; Cara’s sister Alice, who insists the accident season is merely a series of coincidences, is behaving erratically; and visions of four changeling children and a menacing metallic monster leave Cara unnerved and disoriented. It all comes to a head at the Halloween party Cara and her friends throw at a haunted mansion, where family secrets are laid bare and Cara’s version of reality is essentially destroyed. This is a lyrical and sometimes chilling exploration of the ways in which we manipulate memories to fall in line with our present narrative—the lies we tell ourselves to keep our brains safe and happy. Cara’s narration brilliantly, sometimes brutally conveys the unraveling of both Cara and her family (“Our pain . . . opens us out and drops pebbles of truth inside us and then sews us back together again”). Readers who initially find Cara to be trustworthy will begin to notice the gaps in her story and understand the far more tragic tale behind it. Irish author Fowley-Doyle is careful, [End Page 86] however, to leave some mysteries unresolved, and the bittersweet ending will haunt readers as much it does Cara. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois