THE SECRET TO BELONGING

A young woman struggling mightily with family dysfunction spends a year abroad in Norway in this verse novel set in the early 1980s.

The story is told in the second person from the point of view of an unnamed narrator living in Southern California with parents whose time, attention and resources are entirely consumed by her older brother who has a substance use disorder. The rapidly moving chapters quickly establish her overwhelming frustration and anger with her family. After they drain her college savings account to pay for her brother to go to rehab, her hopes of escape are dashed. Her friend Alison easily convinces her to apply for a Rotary scholarship to study abroad for her senior year, a decision that proves transformative. Freeman weaves rich details into short chapters that vividly establish the settings of both countries, like a late-night drive with Alison into Hollywood, where the girls listen to Irene Cara’s “What a Feeling,” and renting videos and eating karamellpudding for dessert with her supportive and caring host family in Gledevik, which lies above the Arctic Circle. Perhaps by design, the motivations of secondary characters—from her parents, who are almost unbelievably one-note in their neglect of her, to her friends and her Norwegian love interest, Espen—are minimally explored in this narrowly focused tale of a young woman finding her way. Characters largely present white.

A quick-moving, original, and poignant read.