Time’s Mouth {gifted, thanks Counterpoint Press} opens in the 1950s with teenage Ursa fleeing a difficult childhood in New England for the counterculture of California. Ursa, who has the ability revisit points in her past, soon settles a matriarchal commune in the woods, a place meant to be a safe haven for women who are drawn to her powers, but the next generation, the children of the commune don’t experience this mystical house in the woods as the safe space it’s meant to be.
Time’s Mouth is a multigenerational saga chronicling three generations of one Californian family from the founding of a 50s/60s matriarchal Commune in the woods turned cult to seeking a more traditional life in 80s/90s LA and coming full circle in the new millennium.
About motherhood and the way secrets, trauma, and fear reverberate and cycle through generations; time and its passage, the gift of the present, and memories that have the power to both heal and harm. There is a really intriguing element of magical realism where some characters have the ability to revisit their past in a very visceral/time travel sort of way, and the whole story has a hint (it’s subtle, but I so appreciated it!) of dark fairytale about it.
A unique story with a strong sense of place and the vibes felt like they called right to me. Loved this one!
Time’s Mouth published 8/1 and you need it!
That Bookish Life 