Title: The Atlas of Untold Stories
Author: Sara Brunsvold
Major Themes: Authors, Midwest, Family, Relationships, Books, Road Trips
Synopsis: Struggling with secrets they can’t divulge, three women embark on a literary road trip, hoping that along the way they’ll find inspiration through the stories and examples of classic authors.
Publisher’s description:
A literary journey beckons them…and may profoundly rewrite their stories.
Chloe Vance, dreamer of the family, needs to tell her pragmatic mom, Edie, that she has accepted a low-paying art instructor role at a Christian school in Prague. Her older sister, Lauren—the “responsible one”—is doing all she can to hide the fact she’s been fired for a foolish mistake and is desperately seeking her next career move. Meanwhile, Edie, estranged from her own sister following their mother’s recent death, is frankly in no mood for anything else to change.
The one thing they can all agree on? Life in books sure is easier to navigate than life in the real world. As the three women embark on a nine-day road trip to visit significant literary sites throughout America’s heartland, they hope to find inspiration through the works and lives of literary greats. As they experience firsthand the adventure and wonder of the classics, they’ll discover the value of being honest with themselves—and their family—about their losses and failures. Only then can they come to terms with their own needs and desires and find support from the most important women in their lives—each other.
Emma’s review:
Ever since I read Sara Brunsvold’s amazing debut novel, The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip, a few years ago, I have been watching for more books by her. When The Atlas of Untold Stories was made available for review, I jumped at the chance. What a treat I was in for when I opened this book!
I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter of The Atlas of Untold Stories, although I was quite annoyed with two of the characters most of the time. I badly wished my daughter had read the book already, so I could discuss it with her—but she hadn’t. She can’t stand any whiff of a spoiler, so I couldn’t say much of anything. I did tell her that two of the women acted very childish, and the other was delightfully childlike. There were so many secrets that needed to come out in the open so that there could be healing—and the people who held the secrets wanted to keep them!
My favorite part of this book, of course, was the interaction between the women and how they worked through their issues. I love books in which the main focus is personal growth. However, I also enjoyed reading about all the locations to which the three women traveled and the authors they learned about. One town they stayed in startled me a little—Manhattan, Kansas. I thought it sounded familiar, and sure enough, when I looked in an old photo album I found the pictures I took when my husband traveled there for a job in 2003 and took us with him! Sara Brunsvold has done a wonderful job of describing each location.
The Atlas of Untold Stories is a wonderful book, offering hope for families who are at odds and help for people who have deep-seated hurts. It would also be a good choice for a literary club to read together, since the background of the story visits the homes of so many authors and describes their most famous works.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley, and these are my honest thoughts about it.
Esther’s review:
Ever since reading The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip, I’ve been a fan of Sara Brunsvold’s writings. When I saw that The Atlas of Untold Stories was set to be released soon, I made sure to request a review copy and eagerly anticipated the publisher’s response. I’m so glad I got to read this book! It was well worth the wait, and in my opinion, even better than The Divine Proverb of Streusel!
Most of my favorite books include characters with deep hurts—the kind of stories where the conflict is just as much, if not more, internal than external. In this book, all three main characters have big things that they’re working through—and most have coping mechanisms that fail them most of the time. I loved watching the mother-daughter dynamics change as the story progressed, and I appreciated the way Chloe did her best to pull the family together. I especially loved Grant and his timely words of wisdom. Multiple times throughout the story, I found myself wishing I could reach into these pages and give certain characters a great big hug—not that they would have accepted it, but even so. It just hurt so much to see them hurt—and to see them hurting others in the process.
The literary road trip element of the story was a lot of fun. At a guess, I’ve only heard of about half of the authors mentioned in this story, so I found that interesting—and there are one or two new-to-me authors that I’d love to check out sometime!
If you enjoy deep characters, women’s fiction with little to no romance, and strong, faith-based stories, I’d highly recommend you check out The Atlas of Untold Stories, as well as Sara Brunsvold’s other books. I sped through this book in just a few days, and can’t wait to see what topic Brunsvold has up her sleeve next—she’s an author to keep an eye on!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.
WARNING: Chapter 13: Heck. Chapter 30: Blasted. Chapter 31: A woman who bucked traditions, dressed like a boy, and called herself by a man’s name—“Cather was the kind of woman every girl should aspire to be.” Chapter 36: Gracious.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle | Hardcover | Audible Audiobook (unabridged)
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
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