Magic realism isn't my favourite writing style, especially when it's used as a trope to push a story along. However, when it's done right, it can make a book ... well, a bit magical. The Summer of Impossible Things (2018) is one of the better examples I can think of, where the author's managed to blend the magic into the rest of the book and the plot and make it believable.
When Luna and her sister head to their mum's old apartment in Brooklyn, they're determined to get to know her a little better. In the years before her death, they knew she was struggling with something that had plagued her, and it's only now that she's gone that she's prepared to let them know the truth. Thirty years before, their mum was happy and thriving, a teen ready to face the big wide world, and Luna wants to know what changed.
What she's not prepared for is how much the trip will change her. Luna begins to struggle with intense headaches, and fears the worst. However, as they flare up, she begins to see her surroundings shift: though she doesn't know it at first, she's gone back to 1977. Switching between the present and a past where she has the opportunity to meet her mum before she became a mother, Luna struggles to comprehend what's happening. Soon she realises that these transitions through time are going to offer her the answers she's looking for.
This is a story that does magical realism well, without it jarring you out of the story or making it *too* unbelievable. More importantly however, it's a story that does love and loss and grief and family well. I loved seeing Luna and her mum bond (despite the years and the secrets between them) and trying to work out exactly what had happened. It was a full on page-turner that I could not put down.
*Trigger warning - sexual assault*
