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Jul 16, 2019takeclare rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Something I like to do of a rainy morn is go on Google Maps and teleport myself to places far-flung and unknown. One place I have cyber-tripped to is the Kamchatka Peninsula - an arm of land that stretches from Russia's eastern reaches at the shores of the Sea of Okhostk, and it is here that 'Disappearing Earth' by Julia Phillips is set. The novel illuminates this remote and - in parts - inhospitable landscape more deeply in the imagination than street-view could hope to, alongside the lives of those who inhabit it. One day on the shore, two girls go missing, and in the wake of this event which is widely reported and discussed, the stories of many - loosely connected - women who live on the peninsula are explored - stories of love, frustration, loss of agency, hope. Overarching each of these vignettes is the dread and sense of unknowing about the girls' fate. I particularly loved Phillips's evocations of the sub-arctic landscape, a reminder of the transportative power of books.