The Predictions

May 15, 2015
Narrator Poppy grows up at Gaialands, a New Zealand commune. To the seven children on the commune, who are raised as a group with little supervision, Gaialands is a paradise. One day, an enigmatic woman, Shakti, shows up and engages them in a ritual in which she gives each of them a prediction. For Poppy, Shakti predicts that true love will be found in a faraway land, but her womb will bear only sorrows. Soon after, one of the children disappears, and the others, now in their teens, start to drift away. Chasing after her prediction, Poppy leaves with Lukas, first for Auckland and then for London. Lukas achieves fame and fortune in a heavy metal band, he and Poppy have a son and marry, but they struggle to find happiness. A return to New Zealand helps Poppy to let go of her past, including her prediction, and uncover some truths. Though the device of the predictions does not entirely convince, what does convince is the setting, from the commune in the New Zealand wilderness to the 1980s London scene.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)