The Vaster Wilds

I read this book pre-release, before anyone I knew had read it, with zero expectations or preconceived notions and it blew me away. Propulsive, urgent, honest, transportative, evocative, powerful—all the adjectives apply. The plot doesn't sound terribly exciting—a servant girl escapes a Jamestown-like colonial settlement and tries to survive on her own in the wilderness until she can make her way to something resembling safety—but WOW. This very interior novel hews to the perspective of one young woman, but Groff has more up her sleeve. This is also a bigger story about colonial America and how we as people live with each other and move through the world, and how our actions are dominos that have consequences we do not and cannot anticipate. I finished this book and couldn't wait to talk about it with my fellow readers. I even spoiled it for my husband (with permission) because I had big thoughts I needed to get off my chest. All the stars.