Dear Great Book Guru,  While we were stocking up for the big snow storm this week at North Shore Farms, we ran into friends and neighbors galore.  One of these friends Juanita Fairclough mentioned a book she had heard about- written by the author of “The Unholy Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.” I loved that book so I am eager to get started on this new one.  What is its title and have you read it? Snow Storm Shopper

Dear Snow Storm Shopper,  Rachel Joyce wrote  “The Unholy Pilgrimage….and  PERFECT is her second and latest novel.   PERFECT has an interesting premise: it is 1972 and two seconds are to be added to the world’s clocks to compensate for variations in the earth’s rotation (apparently this actually did happen and over the years since, twelve more seconds have been added). While scientists insist this necessary adjustment will have no ill effect, eleven year-old  Byron and his friend James are very concerned. As it turns out, they were right: their entire lives and those of their friends and families were changed by the addition of those two seconds.  In alternating chapters, the reader experiences the  summer of 1972 and the  winter of 2012. Always there is the question: how will these two time periods intersect?  The 1972 piece is set in a lovely English suburb with a beautiful moor, a lush pond, and is told from young Byron’s perspective.    In 2012, the perspective is that of a very damaged middle-aged man living in an abandoned van and working in a failing shopping mall.   Each of these stories could stand alone, but Joyce links the two in a devastating conclusion. A very thought-provoking book!