Nature vs. Nurture

 Sundial by Catriona Ward

Sundial book cover

Whoa! Hold on for an exciting ride from Catriona Ward with the book Sundial. I initially wanted to read another book by Ward, Looking Glass Sound, but read this description about the desert and a commune and it sounded pretty interesting. The book was much more than I expected, and I really enjoyed this strange and wonderful story about nature and nurture, and the role that parents and past trauma plays in our character, growth and development. I’ll try not to spoil this book because I want more and more people to read it, but it is really surprising, fun, and propulsive. I couldn’t put it down and found myself continuing to read just to find out what would happen next. It follows the story of Rob, a suburban housewife with a domineering scientist husband and two daughters who are pretty different. An incident at home prompts Rob to take her older daughter Callie to her the desert where Rob grew up in a weird kind of scientific commune. The nature of the desert and the characters in the commune are some of the best parts of this book. However, I think Callie is an awesome character as well. She imagines things, and one of her imaginary acquaintances is Dark Callie, who I’m not sure is real or an imaginary friend, but nevertheless seems to have some influence on Callie’s behaviors and thinking. The chapters alternate between Rob’s perspective and Callie’s, where we learn about Dark Callie and dumpster puppy. You just have to read more to understand their significance. Once they arrive at Sundial, the desert home, we begin to learn more about Rob’s background and experiences growing up there with her “parents” Falcon and Mia, and what may have happened to her birth mother. It’s a fascinating way to reconstruct the backstory of the characters and it helps explain more about Rob and her thinking and behavior. I really enjoyed learning more and more about Rob and her experiences, which ultimately give us the insight into her relationship with Irving, her husband. I loved this book—the evocative descriptions of the desert and nighttime along with the startling slow burn revelations about Rob’s past made this an unforgettable read. I can’t wait to read Looking Glass Sound and other books by Ward.