Jane, Unlimited

June 26, 2017
Cashore’s first novel in four years covers an eventful weekend in the life of 18-year-old Jane, an orphan raised by an aunt whose recent death has left her niece unmoored. When a former tutor, Kiran, invites Jane to her family’s island mansion, Tu Reviens, Jane accepts, arriving with everything she owns, including 37 handmade umbrellas. A cast of guests, servants, Kiran’s twin, and a basset hound is quickly introduced, as are a raft of suspicious activities. The story then restarts five times in five genres—spy thriller, horror, science fiction, mystery, fantasy—sometimes repeating information verbatim from a previous section. Each new version is a little weirder than the last, and the overall effect is less Choose Your Own Adventure than Groundhog Day on acid, set within a framework that pays homage to several classic novels, most notably Du Maurier’s Rebecca. These shifts require a reader patient enough to follow the story’s many contradictions until Jane discovers why she’s at Tu Reviens and, ultimately, what she wants. An ambitious departure for Cashore that will reward (and perhaps demand) many re-readings. Ages 14–up. Agent: Faye Bender, the Book Group.

Narrator Rebecca Soler establishes characters and settings quickly and convincingly. She portrays heroine Jane's intelligence and sarcasm with a tinge of grief, resulting from the recent death of her beloved aunt. Cynicism surfaces in Soler's depiction of wealthy Kieran, the girl who has invited Jane to a gala at her island mansion. Later, Soler makes clear the insecurity beneath Kieran's snootiness. Curious Jane senses something below the surface of the snobby gala guests and taciturn servants. At this point the author leaves her linear plot and launches a multiverse world that explores Jane's reality through five different genres-- mystery, thriller, horror, science fiction, and fantasy--each of which is announced by a tonal shift in Soler's voice. In addition, Soler's solid character portrayals are crucial, given the story's multiple shifts. S.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine