PEACES
Of all the great books I’ve read this year, there’s one that has lingered in my mind more than any other. Helen Oyeyemi’s PEACES is a novel about young lovers Otto and Xavier, who are gifted tickets for a romantic getaway aboard a peculiar train. As they journey through the train’s bizarre cars and meet its eccentric passengers, they begin to uncover mysteries that only give way to more mysteries. All the while, they dissect their relationship and their own psyches as each encounter on the train becomes intertwined with their memories. If that sounds vague and perplexing, well, it is. As whimsical as the premise is, the book is less about an adventure on a train and more about unraveling human perception. PEACES is difficult to properly describe, but I can tell you that I couldn’t put it down. It’s everything you want out of a novel, or out of a train ticket gifted to you by your lover’s weird aunt: It’s a trip.
—Anna Lee, Development Intern
