“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘.”
A Moment of Fireflies is a book of the Historical Fiction and is a beautiful and moving story of an alcoholic dad, Michael who harbors a dark secret that has been tormenting him for more than a couple of years. Set in the Depression era, this book deals with myriad sensitive subjects and gives the reader an insight into the issues faced by a lot of people during those times.
John has skillfully tackled a hefty subject matter and has deftly crafted it into a beautiful tale which highlights the importance of familial love and the absolute need for support. The language of the novel is reader friendly and the author has done a commendable job on this debut novel. This fiction story is short yet manages to convey what the author wishes to.
Owing to the fact that this book was a concise one, the plot did not really have a lot of space to develop and come together. The reader was thrown head first into the story from the beginning. And this was a plus point of the book. The story was precise, to the point and fast paced. I couldn’t stop reading the book once I started it. The narration was beyond perfect and it gave us insight into the minds of all the characters.
Coming to the characters, I think I need to admit that every single character, for me, was real. To me, all the characters were penned to absolute perfection. The author brought together a close-knit community and penned his story around those handful characters. Further, I really liked how the author kept the element of anticipation alive throughout the novel via short flashbacks which gradually lead the reader to deciphering the actual root of the family strain.
This was my first historical fiction read and I can confidently say I wasn’t disappointed. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to people who are looking for a quick read to get out of their reading slump.
