Although this took my a while to get through, it was so good. I really liked the writing style and it being in the second person for Ansel's perspective (I'm a big fan of "you", giving unreliabilitiy and conveys a lot of emotion imo). I almost started crying in public at the very last chapter. I think the whole book is a great exploration about crime, particularly the victims of violent crime - both those at the hands of the perpetrator and the family, friends, and investigators that have to navigate the wake of a violent crime. Whether that is because of their relation to the victims or the murderer. I liked that there was explicit contrast to Ansel, that his actions were not an inevitability of his circumstances but because of his decisions (and perhaps his mental state).

All the women in the book are incredibly human, all relatable in someway. The descriptions made them so. Lavender's experiences of motherhood felt so familiar, Saffy's struggle to have a "normal" life in the wake of her experiences as a foster child and being in a line of work that does it's hardest to expel her from it. Despite having no siblings myself, Jenny and Hazel's dynamic was painfully known to me. I really liked how their sisterhood was shown, the ever-present love and envy and comparison. I would totally read a book about Lavender and Sunshine, their quite relationship on a remote hippie self-sustaining farm. Maybe I'll give Kukafya's "Girl in the Snow" a go!