UP THROUGH THE DARKNESS

Scandinavian immigrants try to build a new life in a California town after World War II in Aronsen’s novel.

The narrative alternates flashbacks and scenes set in the modern day as it follows several people of German and Danish descent trying to flee their pasts. In the present, Anders is a 60-year-old man who’s recently lost his job and savings and is about to be evicted from his house in a coastal California town. After a failed suicide attempt, he begins a long path to recovery that includes a stay in a mental health ward, moving in with his childhood friend Patrick, and embarking on a treacherous solo bike trip along the California coast. Although he never married and has no children, he’s part of an intricate web of human connections going back more than half a century. Flashbacks tell the story of his mother, Inger, a reticent woman who left Denmark for mysterious reasons and never told Anders his father’s name. It also tells the tales of Günter, a German who’s brought to the United States first as a prisoner of war during World War II and later returns of his own accord only to endure years of harassment from his neighbors, and Olivia, a sea captain’s widow who’s trying to protect her ranch from the greedy designs of Marina, her wayward granddaughter. When Marina is found dead, the resulting murder investigation brings to light further connections. Only the most attentive readers will keep up with the story’s secret family ties, which become increasingly more complex. Aronsen overloads the novel with disorganized past timelines, and multiple characters discover blood relatives living under false names in proximity, which makes the story feel repetitive. Still, readers who appreciate the prose’s melancholy tone will find an earnest and thorough exploration of what it means to choose one’s family and identity. In one particularly moving scene, Anders observes his neighbor Olivia and her longtime helper, Eugenio: “Anders could see all those years between them, years without promises or words of loyalty, or even affection, only that iron bond of work—an obligation stronger than contracts or promises, or even family.”

An often touching, if chaotically organized, tale of the ties that bind.