cover image Jane Was Here

Jane Was Here

Sarah Kernochan. Grey Swan (www.greyswanpress.com), $24.95 (336p) ISBN 978-0-615-42203-9

The sudden appearance of a young woman called Jane in rural Graynier, Mass., propels this absorbing novel of reincarnation and karmic balances from filmmaker Kernochan, the winner of two Academy Awards for documentaries. Website designer Brett Sampson and his estranged 10-year-old son, Collin, are supposed to spend their summer together bonding. Instead, Brett becomes obsessed with Jane after she shows up at their rented Victorian house, claiming it was her childhood home, and Collin spends his time with Gita Poonchwalla, a slightly older Indian girl who converts him to her own unique religion. Local residents, including caretaker Hoyt Eddy and floozy Marly Walczak, get caught up in the mystery of Jane, whom PI Dick Fancher claims is actually Caroline Moss, a missing autistic woman. Kernochan (Dry Hustle) illuminates the small lives of her characters while skillfully interweaving their past and present incarnations. (June)