There’s a deceptive quietness to Melanie Cheng’s latest book that belies the seismic shifts rumbling under its surface. What could be softer, more gentle, warmer than a dad driving home with a new pet rabbit for his daughter? And yet, within a few pages we learn that it’s the height of Covid, that the dad is cheating on his wife, and that the family is reeling from the kind of tragedy from which very few recover. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare - their younger daughter drowned in the bath while in the care of her grandmother. Cheng handles these revelations without judgement; they are, it turns out, setting the scene for the real drama. The grandmother is recovering from a fall and will be coming to live with the family. A reckoning is in the wind.
The Burrow is about picking up the pieces when life spins wildly out of control. It is about learning to forgive, not only others but yourself. It is a book bursting with insight and compassion, written from a place of deep understanding and kindness. Cheng has never been in finer form - delicate and nuanced, yet unafraid to face the horrors of ordinary life.
The Burrow by Melanie Cheng
Text Publishing, 2024
184 pages
Putting this on my TBR stat