this took me a wee while to get into, I think because I (somewhat unfairly) started this right after I’d finished Prophet Song, which was stylistically a very different book but touched on a handful of the same themes, esp civil war’s impact on family life, so I initially felt I was reading some of the same ideas again. But eventually it swept me away and I’m so glad I stuck with it because I grew so attached to the characters and was very moved by the story / real history behind it. also much like my last read, given Current World Events it felt like an extremely urgent read. Will def be in my top books for this year