The Year of Fog

SPOILER ALERT....So I read Michelle Richmond's book The Year of Fog. I almost didn't buy the books since a young six-year-old girl disappears. I thought child abduction / mystery would be too much for a mother. However, Richmond tells the story from the fiance's point of view. Granted the fiance was practically the girl's mother, since her biological mother left her when she was much younger, and the father had left Emma with Abby for the weekend. Obviously, he trusted her. Because of this point of view, the story has a parental detachment. Jake, Emma's father, easily believes that Emma was taken away by the rip-tide, and eventually, the police determine that to be the case. However, the conflict of the story is that Abby is more obsessed with finding Emma than Jake is. She also never believes that she simply drowned. The repetitive nature of Richmond's storytelling makes the story flow like water. Coincidentally enough, water frames many events of the story--Emma's disappearance, the main clue to discovering Emma, and Emma's actual discovery. Abby's mental discovery and dissection was interesting and I kept reading to see how it would end. Unfortunately, I do have to say that the end of the book frustrated me. As the reader, I loath Jake for giving up so easily. Then when he makes Abby choose between exhausting one last attempt at finding Emma or a relationship with him, I absolutely could not believe he stuck with that decision AFTER Abby finds Emma. It is through this last ditch, and incredibly coincidental, effort that Emma is found. So shouldn't all bets be off? Shouldn't Jake be so relieved that Emma is alive and well and therefore, immensely grateful and forgiving of Abby? Unfortunately, the answers are no. Jake and Emma don't seem to want to even see Abby much less spend time with her. What I found really frustrating is that Abby had a chance to be happy with someone else but because of her determination to find Emma, she loses that chance, too.

I don't know. What can I say? If Richmond is going to make Emma's discovery so far-fetched, then shouldn't the happily-ever-after ending happen? Realistically, Emma would have remained lost. She doesn't. But Abby and Jake can't find their way back to each other and now Abby is so changed, she has to start over. I think she deserved a break.