It Happened in the Mining Town by Adela PilowskyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
An exceptionally well-written debut novel...
It Happened in the Mining Town by Adela Pilowsky is a wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel with brilliantly drawn characters driven by love, loss and jealously. The author weaves a well-crafted emotional drama with intriguing twists and turns that will easily captivate the reader’s attention from the beginning. Skillfully constructed, the story revolves around the internal dynamics of family life.
The book description gives a sneak preview: ‘A poor copper mining town. Three generations of one family. A life full of secrets. MarÃa Inés’s life has always been marked by upheavals. Her mother died during childbirth. Her father found it extremely difficult to raise her on his own, and when she was just a teenager, she already managed to get into trouble with a dubious young man named Eduardo because of whom she was sent away to a special agricultural farm for girls. She returns five years later only to find herself falling in love with Rodolfo, a well-known and admired soccer player, with whom she has two children—Raquel and Rosa. Eduardo, however, who in the meantime was saved from a life of crime and has joined the military, is still madly in love with MarÃa Inés, and lets his jealousy of Rodolfo haunt him. In order to win her heart back, he realizes he first must get rid of Rodolfo. When Eduardo’s plan goes awry, the young family’s life is thrown into turmoil. Will the truth be revealed, or will so many secrets remain buried forever?’
I enjoyed the story, character development, and dialogue. There were plenty of plot twists that I didn’t see coming and that added to the book’s mystique. When I stopped reading to work, I found myself wondering what happened in the book, and replaying parts of the novel in my head to see if I could figure more out. It has been a while since I enjoyed a book this much. It’s a first-class emotional family saga with perfect pacing.
It Happened in the Mining Town had every element a good story should have. An intriguing plot, attention to detail, but best of all fleshed out, well-written and well-rounded character development. There’s an abundance of well-illustrated scenes that make you feel like you are right there in the story, and that’s something I really look for in a good book.
It’s one of those stories that come along once in a while that makes you want to read it non-stop until you get to the end. I’m giving nothing further away here. And this, I hope, will only add to the mystery and enjoyment for the reader!
I’ll be looking forward to reading more from Adela Pilowsky in the future. Recommended. Five stars.
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