Rachel Reviews: The Window by M.L. Calder

This was such a nice book to read. I don't mean that to sound fatuous or trite as nice is an adjective much overused and maligned but it was so gentle in its prose that I felt like I drifted through my reading of it and it really was nice. There was a calm to it, produced by Calder's written style which lulled me and carried me through the drama and emotion of the story of the Morans. That's not to say that it's not an emotive because it is but there is something about the rhythm of the read that I liked: phrases acting like waves or repeated motives in music.

Set initially in the early 1960s, the story begins with Elizabeth and Michael, two teens who fall in love. They are, like Romeo and Juliet, "star-cross'd lovers" and so decide to elope to Indianapolis where they set up home together and discover exactly how hard it is to survive with limited funds and a lack of support. When Elizabeth discovers she is pregnant, the pressure mounts and Michael feels it the most.

When they have twins, he has to provide more and the only option he has will take him away from them and he won't know when he will return. Elizabeth is a survivor but when circumstances contrive to separate her from her boys, she has no choice but to give them up to the system and pray that it takes care of them.

This separation is made doubly heart-wrenching by the fact that one, Daniel, is blind and the other, James, is partially sighted.

I liked the way that Calder began with a prologue where we see Daniel, a blind cellist, moving into a new apartment with Elizabeth. Calder then takes us back to show us how their story has unfolded to this point and then we move forward with them into places where the past comes to meet them.

Music is important in this story and is referred to throughout, especially the Ständchen by Schubert which is integral to the action of the book and is sort of a character in its own right, such is its presence in the book and its influence. I would urge you to listen to all the mentioned pieces while you are reading like I did.

A quiet read but one full of story and emotion: a good book.

Rachel Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC: