YOU COULD BE HAPPY HERE

In Van Rheenen’s novel, a woman travels to Costa Rica to track down her absentee father after the loss of her mother.

It is April of 2010, and Lucy, a single, 30-something teacher with a scientific passion for insects, is reeling after the death of her mother. Lucy’s estranged sister, Faith, immediately claims the family’s California home for her family. Angry and grief-stricken, Lucy makes the impulsive decision to spend her eight-day spring break in Costa Rica to track down her biological father, Gabriel Mora Soto, who left behind a stack of letters addressed to her mother and, as far as Lucy knows, may not even be alive. Arriving in the small village of Palmita, where Lucy and her family used to spend their summers, she meets friends both old and new, including her childhood friend, Inés (who now goes by Calaca), and Calaca’s son, Beto; Hilda, her kindly hostess for the week; and Gabriel’s discombobulatingly handsome bar-owner friend, Rafa. Each section of the narrative spans one day of the week, from Saturday to Saturday, as Lucy explores Palmita, discovers surprising personal connections to those around her, and tries to uncover the truth about her parents’ past. Van Rheenen crafts a delicate and thoughtful story of one woman’s attempt to find and make meaning in both her past and present, with the idea of nature as a healing force nudging Lucy along her path of self-discovery. While the pace occasionally lags, the smooth, sometimes poetic prose deftly leads Lucy through the twists and turns of her familial journey: “She felt all of Palmita tremble underfoot as old alliances and assumptions collapsed, and new ones sprang up. Where would she land in this seismic rearrangement?” Van Rheenen’s deep exploration of Lucy’s sense of self yields a fascinating and layered examination of how pain, rage, and grief can ultimately give way to hope and resilience.

A beautiful homage to family that urges readers to rethink what “home” can really mean.