Beamis12

It is sometimes very hard to explain why a book affects one the way it does. This was such a perfect little book, quiet and unassuming ,but an in depth study of a young woman's mind when she finds out that everything she believes in, is not the truth. Clarissa's mother abandoned her, her father and mentally challenged brother, when she was fourteen. After her father dies she makes the shocking discovery that he was not her real father, that her mother had been married before to a Sami priest. Her fiance apparently knew the truth and kept it from her as well. Reeling from a double betrayal, she sets out in an attempt to find answers.

Her travels take her to Lapland, the indigenous Sami people, reindeer herders with a very distinctive look. Of course I had to google to find pictures and Wiki for more information on the Sami.  Google and Wiki,  sounds almost like a dance.  Even though this is an exotic locale, not many descriptions are to be found, only those that Clarissa sees, since most of the action is her thoughts, her feelings and her impressions. We journey with her to the ice hotel and it is here that we finally get answers along with Clarissa.  Now that she has closed off her past, the only available option is for her to make a new future. 

I liked the short paragraphs, the straightforward writing, and seeing things just from Clarissa's view. Not that I agreed with everything she did, but I did understand why she felt that way. The writing is wonderful, and I liked that it had a different kind of ending. Not happily ever after,  all answers as she wanted them, but a different future that she makes, one that allows her to move forward.

One interesting fact: The Sami believe that the Northern Lights look like fires and that they are their ancestors. I thought that was beautiful.