It’s not typical to find the reason for the title of a novel to be uncovered in the last sentence of the book. The beginning sequence alludes to what the reader has to expect, but it doesn’t feel right throughout the progression of present and past events. A family deceased found under the shade of a tree. Was it suicide and murder, or an unfortunate accident? But what happened to the baby? An empty wicker basket found hung from a limb. A massive community search came up empty. The customary ending usually ends with the baby being saved. But this novel doesn’t follow a normal pattern. Characters: can we trust them? Are they likable? manipulative? unsound? Where do they fit in the story? The narrator keeps the reader guessing. Jess, the protagonist, finds what she is looking for, her home, which is not what she thought her grandmother was, but her previously estranged mother. Morten’s characters are fully developed by the end of the novel. The reader knows who is who, but how the Turner family died is still a guess.
