Books I've read: The Stars are Million Glittering Worlds

 

I first came across this book before it was published when the publisher approached me about interviewing the author for the arts magazine I was editing.  Timing wasn't kind to us and the interview didn't happen, but I did receive a copy of the book for a giveaway.  It sat on my desk, looking enticing and beautiful for several weeks, but I was afraid that if I took it home to read, I spill coffee on it or drop it in the bath.  So, it remained unread until my book club decided it was a good option for this month's read since there were multiple copies available through the Libby app. (If you don't have the Libby app, get it now - it's been life-changing).

I really enjoyed this book despite deciding by the end that I really didn't like any of the characters very much.

There are three main characters - Thea, Sarah and Chris - who meet at a backpacker's in Guatemala.  Sarah and Chris are loosely a couple, having met elsewhere in Central America and met up again in San Pedro, a little town on a lake.  Thea arrives later, determined to climb some of the nearby mountains - her father who was a keen mountaineer died recently, and climbing is a way for Thea to feel close to him again.

All three of these people are traveling to get away from their real lives, to escape reality, their families and past trauma.  While they keep moving, they can be someone else; perhaps better than the people they were at home.

When tragedy strikes, Thea spirals, her past racing to meet her once more.  Even staying away doesn't seem to keep the darkness from overwhelming her, so she decides to go home, travelling through Australia to get there.

She never makes it home - she falls into a relationship and quickly finds herself building a life in Tasmania.  A mostly comfortable life, with friends and activities to keep the grief that binds her and her partner at bay.

Until another tragedy strikes and Thea finds herself questioning everything, the unanswered questions surrounding the tragedy in Guatemala suddenly overwhelming once more.  But if she wants the truth about what really happened, she needs to confront her own truth and finally confront her own tragedy, the one that sent her running to the far side of the globe.

This book went in some very unexpected directions. I won't ruin it by telling you too much about those directions because a big part of what made it enjoyable were these changes of direction.  Yet despite them being unexpected, none of them were out of character for the people making those decisions.

Unfortunately, I didn't much like any of the characters, and by the end, I liked them all even less.  Which, I suspect, may have been the point.  But despite not liking them, the book was very readable and had some lovely descriptions and language sprinkled through it.  There were enough buried secrets to keep you reading on, desperate to find out exactly what made these people tick - just why they behaved in some of the ways they did.

So, I'd recommend this one.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

A hypnotic novel about love, guilt and forgiveness. If you loved Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro, you will adore The Stars Are a Million Glittering Worlds.

Thea, a young woman crushed by guilt, flees to Central America to escape her life in New Zealand.

In Guatemala, she meets the charismatic Chris and his partner, Sarah, and the three of them form a tight bond. While the rest of the world is caught in the grip of the global financial crisis, the three friends find a false reality in the backpacker party town of San Pedro. Surrounded by the dark volcanic beauty of the Guatemalan highlands, Thea starts to come to terms with her past. But everything changes when a tragedy occurs.

Knowing she has to leave Central America, but not ready to return home, Thea settles in Tasmania and into a new relationship. Bonded by grief, she and her partner make a life for themselves in Hobart. But years later, when tragedy strikes again, all Thea's old grief and guilt - together with unanswered questions - come to the surface. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and lockdowns, Thea begins to question the trust she has in her partner. She realises that if she wants to know the truth, she will need to come clean about her past.