Creatures

Van Meter’s tender and atmospheric debut is a portrait of a young woman’s hard upbringing amid an edenic setting. On Winter Island, off the southern California coast, Evangeline—known as Evie—awaits the return of her fisherman fiancé, Liam, while a dead whale lolls offshore. Born on the island and “raised” by her often-disappearing mother and her well-meaning but destructive father, as well as by the kindhearted women who date her father, Evie has finally succeeded in building her own life. She has a makeshift family with Liam, her best friend Rook, and Rook’s son, and has a fulfilling career at the nearby Sea Institute, but her fears of her impending marriage are compounded as she spends the days waiting for Liam’s return and revisiting the shifting emotional landscape of her childhood. Arcing across Evie’s past, present, and future on the island, the novel’s strongest sections are rooted in her childhood, alone and often itinerant with her father. Van Meter expertly and effortlessly brings to life at once her father’s substance abuse and dependence, his doting love for his daughter and loyalty to her absent mother, and his inability to be what Evie needs. His deep mark on Evie’s life, and her feelings toward him, are the book’s beating heart. Despite some unnecessary structural flourishes in the form of essay-prompts and themed-chapter sections, this promising debut sneaks up on the reader, packing a devastating emotional punch. [em]Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, DeFiore and Company. (Jan.) [/em]