Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
By award-winning author Cai Emmons, an ambitious and moving novel set against the backdrop of California's wildfire season in which a family in crisis is thrust on a collision course with the world around them that has an outcome beyond their wildest imaginings. When Lu and George Barnes drop their only daughter, Pippa, off at college, they return to their Sonoma, California, home to face a marriage eroded beyond recognition. Without the camouflage of her beloved daughter, Lu finds herself unsure of who she is as a wife and a woman, increasingly disinterested in her husband's pretentious values. George, on the other hand, struggles to understand his wife's aimlessness, as she retreats further and further into her own world.
Meanwhile Pippa, who has spent the last year shunning the intimacy she and her mother once shared in a desperate attempt to prove her independence, feels completely adrift in the bustle of L.A., even fearful, given the recent inexplicable disappearances of women that have been confounding the country. She finds comfort only in her beloved cat and new interest in her zoology class--and its professor.
While Lu and Pippa turn to the natural world in this moment of personal crisis, George clings more tightly than ever to the material life he's built. But tensions outside the family are mounting as well--California's wildfire season is swiftly approaching, and with it, a reckoning that none of the Barneses can avoid.
Synopsis
Set amidst California's wildfire season, a vivid and magical novel following a family in crisis thrust on a collision course with the world around them that has an outcome beyond their wildest imaginings . . .
When Lu and George Barnes drop their only daughter, Pippa, off at college, they return to their Sonoma home to find that their paths have diverged. Confronted with an empty nest, Lu's increasing dissatisfaction with their materialistic lives becomes impossible to ignore. She is most content outdoors, finding the animals in her backyard far superior company to her pretentious neighbors. In contrast, George is eager to throw himself into his business, a local winery with an elite clientele, as well as his art collection. He cannot for the life of him understand his wife's discontent.
Meanwhile, Pippa feels completely adrift at school in the bustle of LA--its unfamiliar noises, its unfriendly atmosphere. She finds comfort only in the beloved family cat she's brought with her and in her zoology class, which makes the world seem just a bit brighter. As Lu, George, and Pippa struggle to adapt, growing apart in the process, tensions outside the family are mounting as well; women have been disappearing across the country with no worldly explanation, all while California's wildfire season is swiftly approaching, and with it, a surprising reckoning is coming, one that none of the Barneses can avoid.
At once a grounded story about love and family, and a transcendent tale about the power of nature, Unleashed is a stunning look at what matters in an all too chaotic world, the things that sustain us when we are on the verge of losing it all, and how we might find ourselves in the most unexpected of ways.