Angel Falls by Julia Rust and David Surface

YAP Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1949140330

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition. ( Bookshop.org |Amazon.com )

In the 1600s, a large group of women and children colonists of Beauport, Massachusetts disappeared, killed by the Indians they displaced. A year later, they started to return. Those who believed the returning family members were real were forced out of Beauport and formed a new settlement, Angel Falls, now abandoned.

Jessie is visiting Beauport for the first time, with her father, who is sorting out her cousin Dorothy’s estate. It’s also likely a trial separation for her parents. There’s not a lot to do, so despite warnings that a girl recently disappeared there, she decides to explore Angel Falls. There she meets Jared, who is dyslexic and in summer school for English, working at a crab shack, and caring for his depressed, suicidal artist father. They discover that together, while at Angel Falls, due to their ancestors’ gifts, they are able to make their wishes happen, to “fix” the people they love, but always at a price.

Jessie discovers letters from her grandfather to Jessie’s cousin Dorothy, who also clearly had this ability, trying to force him to return to Angel Falls by making wishes. We only see one side of a correspondence between them but it is pretty obvious that Dorothy’s actions are why Jessie’s parents have never mentioned her before. Jared’s English teacher is obsessed with Angel Falls and Jared’s growing ability, but Jessie and Jared both have doubts about continuing to use it.

The backstory has to be pieced together and so the background to the story was confusing, but the book is compelling, with some memorable moments, and was hard to put down once it really got started (it starts with days of rain trapping Jessie inside a cabin, not the best choice for getting the main characters going, but the authors get it jumpstarted). I especially liked the relationship Jared had with his dad and the way the authors showed that under the idyllic surface things were not quite right. Recommended.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski