INVISIBLE FAULT LINES

Dazed by her father’s inexplicable disappearance, Callie spends the next several months searching for answers and adjusting to the new family dynamic that’s developing with her mother.

Following her father’s disappearance, Callie finds herself imitating normal life, until driving by the construction site where her father was last seen makes her realize her dad has been missing for 39 days. Stunned at what feels like her complacency, Callie renews her efforts to solve the mystery of her father. Sadly, all she ever finds is her father’s abandoned backpack, which offers no new clues. But, while visiting a centenary exhibit of photos from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Callie believes that she sees her father in one of the photos. She begins researching the earthquake and its aftermath, privately convinced her father may have been somehow transported back to that time period. Adding possible credibility to her theory are the evocatively detailed chapters featuring a nameless man with amnesia wandering around San Francisco after the 1904 earthquake. He vaguely senses he is missing something—could it be Callie and her mother in 2006? Ultimately Callie gains few answers, but her journey toward acceptance of both her father’s disappearance and her feelings of loss is painstakingly, sensitively rendered.

A gentle, honest, and occasionally perplexing exploration of how people seek solace during anguishing situations.