Quinn Connor: "Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves"

Title: Cicadas Sing of Summer Graves [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Quinn Connor [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Contemporary with a Twist, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023

Age: 16+ (I shelved it as Adult because of the characters' age, and it's indeed marketed to that demographic, but it can be read by mature teens. There are far more graphic YA books out there)

Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Atmospheric, spellbinding, inventive, full of heart. Centers on a set of unique, diverse characters.
Cons: Tendentially slow (if you prefer stories with more than a modicum of action). Leaves some questions unanswered.
WARNING! Violence, body horror (though in one case it's actually more poetic than disturbing), blood, drowning/near drowning. Bullying/toxic friendship, panic attacks/disorders, grief, racism, classism.
Will appeal to: Those who like stories with their roots in a troubled/tragic past. Those who enjoy a mixture of cozy and unsettling, beauty and horror. Those who have a thing for characters both haunted and haunting.

Blurb: Prosper, Arkansas had not always been this way. Years ago, at the height of the summer swelter, in the wake of an unexpected storm, the local dam failed and the valley flooded - drowning the town and everyone trapped inside. The secrets of old Prosper drowned with them. Now, decades later, when a mysterious locked box is pulled from the depths of the lake, three descendants of that long-ago tragedy are hurled into another feverish summer. Cassie: the reclusive sole witness to an impossible horror no one believes. Lark: a wide-eyed dreamer haunted by bizarre visions. June: caught between longing for a fresh start and bearing witness to the ghosts of the past. Bound together, all three must contend with their home's complex history - and with the ruins of the town lost far beneath the troubled water. (Amazon)

Review: In 2024, I got the chance to read an ARC of Connor's second novel The Pecan Children, and I fell in love. That experience compelled me to seek their first one (I say "their" because Quinn Connor is actually the pen name for a writing duo, Robyn Barrow and Alex Cronin), which cemented them in my favourite-author pantheon. So here I go again, gushing about their debut book that doesn't read like a debut at all...

PAST IS PROLOGUE

If The Pecan Children was a (mind-bending) "allegory of decay in small-town America" (to quote the editorial notes), CSOSG deals with a dark page of the country's history, and sacrifices the big twist(s) for a slow but steady crescendo of reveals, a trickle of often uncanny details painting the picture of a small lakeside community and the way a tragic event that occurred many years prior continues to shape its present. The fictional town of Prosper is inspired by a real Arkansas one (Buckville) that was intentionally flooded in the 1950s, causing the displacement of many struggling farmers, a number of them Black and Native Americans. Cicadas gives an even more appalling spin to that story - and many others of the same kind - whose extent will only be apparent towards the end of the novel. On the backdrop of that tragedy, the authors entwine the lives of three young women (and the teen brother of one of them), each haunted in a different way, and craft a story of generational trauma, family ties, sense of belonging/legacy, human connection, ghosts of the past (both literal and figurative) and hope for the future. The protagonists are from diverse ethnicities (which ties in with the story), sexual orientations and ways of life, marked by different familial histories or survivors of different traumas, but the narrative manages to bring them together organically and effortlessly, and each one of them gets her chance to steal the scene - though I must admit having a soft spot for June and her intensity, that manifests itself in an impossible, ultimately poetical guise. [...]

MAGIC BLENDER

Even with only two books under their belts, I think it's safe to say that the two ladies behind the Quinn Connor alias have carved a place for themselves in the magical-realism pantheon. But their stories encompass many other genres - from mystery to horror to straight-up supernatural and contemporary (served with a dash of romance, both hetero and queer) - and feature strong characters who never play second fiddle to the narrative. I'm still partial to The Pecan Children because of its jaw-dropping twists (and my affinity with a certain brand of quirky), but Cicadas is a quiet (yet vibrant) gem, nailing the small-town vibe and at the same time conveying the urgency of secrets that - literally - refuse to stay buried (or in this case, drowned). I'll be honest: some questions don't have a straight answer - is June's arrival the catalyst that prompts the past to resurface? what does the fireworks man stands for, really? - but all in all, that's the beauty of fabulism. More than The Pecan Children, Connor's first book is best geared to patient readers willing to savour its prose - especially its descriptive passages - but it will repay them for doing so. As for me, I'm already counting the days until the authors' next release...

For more Adult books click here.

For more Contemporary/Contemporary with a Twist books click here.