True North by Robin Huber: book review

True North (2020) is set in Georgia, America, in contemporary times.

It begins with 29-year-old Olivia Dalton accepting lawyer Travis Beauclair’s marriage proposal. She wants to move back to St. Simons in Georgia where her parents live, and Travis wants to move to Dallas where his parents live.

The timing of the novel moves to eight years before the proposal, when she was living with her parents and her twin brother Brandon. She was dating Gabriel North—her ‘true north’ and her childhood sweetheart. But a car accident ended her dreams. She’s never been able to get Gabe out of her mind.

So what did Olivia and Travis decide about where to live? Olivia decides to move back home with her parents, without Travis. In St. Simons, she wants to start over, reflect on her life and her dreams, and start anew. ‘It’s kind of strange and wonderful and sad and surreal all at the same time.’

Here Olivia reconnects with her parents, and gets a low-paying job, but it’s a job. And just as she’s getting back on track, Travis arrives.

This is a simple, quick, light, mostly uneventful story about romantic decisions, whether to take second chances, and finding a solid base of support with family.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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