This Is Our Place

Employing Number 8 Sunflower Street as this novel’s omniscient narrator (“I am a house. Not in the metaphorical sense... I am literally a house”), Martins (Here the Whole Time) cleverly blends three of its occupants’ experiences growing up across three decades in Lagoa Pequena, a small Brazilian town. In 2000, after closeted Ana finds out she will be moving away, she scrambles to find permanence in her relationship with her secret girlfriend, Letícia. In 2010, Greg is sent to live with his aunt while his parents negotiate their divorce; there, he meets and crushes hard on delivery guy Tiago. And amid the 2020 Covid lockdown, Beto grapples with navigating tense relationships with his mother and sister while yearning to confess his love for an online friend. Though the house can read the thoughts of anyone inside, it has no idea what happens beyond its doors, resulting in a funny and heartbreaking look at the things the family members and friends hide from one another as they struggle to relate and connect. Martins compassionately relays the internal and external conflicts of the building’s occupants, blending three alternating timelines to illustrate how their separate lives affect each other long-term, lending a feel-good tone that instills optimism. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)

Correction: A previous version of this review transposed two character names.