Nicole Baart's The Moment Between
is the story of two sisters. Abigail is an accountant living in Florida. Actually, she was an accountant until she decided to uproot her life and save her sister like she has been doing her entire life. Hailey is bipolar amongst other things. She has struggled with tantrums, violence, and depression since she was a child. The only person who can really help Abigail is Hailey, and Abigail puts much of her life on hold to do so. She stays home for a couple years after she graduates from high school to make sure Hailey is okay. As much as Abigail loves her sister though, she can't help but resent her. After all, Hailey is always messing everything up.
When Hailey commits suicide she leaves a note that says, "I don't blame you. I don't blame Tyler." Abigail knows what the note says, but she can only see that Hailey's death is her fault. She decides to find this Tyler guy, the guy who was supposed to change everything for Hailey. This requires her to rent a car in go to Canada. She doesn't really have a plan, but in the back of her mind she knows her plan is to kill Tyler. She wants revenge for what he did to her sister. Abigail had never met Tyler before, but she knew that the last time she saw Hailey everything was different. Hailey said that Tyler was the man she would marry.
Once she is in Canada Abigail meets Eli who gives her a job at his vineyard. Eli turns out to be Tyler's uncle, and Abigail's new landlord. Abigail decides to feign a romantic interest in Tyler in order to get information out of him, but she is so disgusted by his presence that everyone thinks she hates him. Which is true.
This book took a couple tries for me, but once I started it I couldn't put it down. This is some of the best characterization I have seen in a book lately. I really felt like I knew Abigail, and like I knew what she was thinking even when the book didn't tell me. The novel also has a nice set up. Each chapter starts with one section about Abigail's life during the present, one section about Abigail's life in the past which is where we see Hailey, and the chapter ends with a scene from the suicide. It was a very engrossing read even though it wasn't something I would normally pick up.
I read this for GalleySmith's Literary Road Trip project which is a chance for bloggers to highlight authors from their own state. Nicole Baart is an Iowa girl, born and raised, and even though most of this book takes place in Canada or Florida there are still some lovely descriptions of the Midwest. You can visit Nicole Baart's website here.
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