Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an ARC of this book. It’s not the first book I’ve read from Tomasini, so I knew it was going to be good. Even though the book changes POVs from the early 1900s to 2017, it wasn’t difficult to follow. If I had to define its genre, I’d say historical fable.

When the book starts, the five Polish Obara sisters (who have inexplicable, mystical powers) are helping the Canadian/British government in WWI. But something goes wrong, and Agata becomes trapped in her body, unreachable. Over the years, she doesn’t age, and her sisters need to figure out what to do with her so as not to burden the younger generation.

When we’re introduced to Jeremy Gardela, we have no idea how he may be related to the Obara sisters. His father is a scientist who tracks the local wolves, and Jeremy helps with that endeavor. He’s comfortable in the wilderness and has no fear of the wolves. It’s almost as if they’re communicating with him. Only a few months ago, his sister Anne died in a car crash. Though it’s not immediately confirmed, it becomes clear that she was probably trying to practice the same kind of magic the Obara sisters did, but something went terribly wrong. Jeremy is devastated by the loss of his sister and closest friend. In her absence, Anne’s best friend Melissa has more or less taken him under her wing because he seems so lost.

There’s a military man with a name that cracked me up—Roger Shambling. He has been researching the Obara sisters and the area around Douro, Ontario where they once lived. He believes he has figured out the connection to current descendants and is determined to uncover the “treasure” of Douro, a fabled mystery missing a few clues. And this is how he ends up at Jeremy’s Aunt Kasia’s house. Kasia is disabled and suffering from mild dementia. When Shambling tries to question her about her relationship to the Obara’s she clams up and asks him to leave. But he unlocks a memory and she asks Jeremy to look for something for her, something hidden by her ancestors almost 100 years ago.

There’s a great description of Jeremy’s grief over the loss of his sister: “In the months after Anne’s death, the weight of her death had come to Jeremy in a series of ebbs and flows, like the ocean advancing upon, but then retreating from, a beach with the pull of the tides. At times it was as though he stood alone on the beach, and the depths of his loss rose from the sea and only managed to reach his ankles, or his knees. At other times the immensity of his sister’s death swept over him completely. From toes to chest, and it was all he could do not to give in and succumb completely to the silent depths of his loss.”

I suppose it’s a Young Adult novel, but it never felt like that to me. Jeremy, the hero of the story, is only 14-years-old. He’s independent, smart, and brave. He has a level of common sense that many his age do not. In short, he’s very mature. While searching for the “treasure” his aunt sent him to find, he faces challenges and grows as a person. He feels responsible for the death of his sister because he was in the car with her when she died, but his actions in this story offer him some sense of redemption.

It’s a unique story that straddles two time periods without getting confusing. Every chapter ended with just enough tension to make me want to continue reading through the next. I found myself stopping reading for the night when I fell asleep from exhaustion. If not for basic biological needs, I’d have read this in one sitting because it was so engrossing. I don’t think it’s over yet, either. It ended with a bit of a question about what will come next, and I’ll be here for it.