Twenty years ago, Abigail Sorenson’s brother Robert went missing one day before her sixteenth birthday, never to be seen again. That same year, she began receiving scattered chapters in the mail of a self-help manual, the Guidebook, whose anonymous author promised to make her life soar to heights beyond her wildest dreams.
The Guidebook’s missives have remained a constant in Abi’s life–a befuddling yet oddly comforting voice through her family’s grief over her brother’s disappearance, a move across continents, the devastating dissolution of her marriage, and the new beginning as a single mother and café owner in Sydney.
Now, two decades after receiving those first pages, Abi is invited to an all-expenses paid weekend retreat to learn “the truth” about the Guidebook. It’s an opportunity too intriguing to refuse. If Everything is Connected, then surely the twin mysteries of the Guidebook and a missing brother must be linked?
What follows is completely the opposite of what Abi expected–but it will lead her on a journey of discovery that will change her life–and enchant readers. Gravity Is the Thing is a smart, unusual, wickedly funny novel about the search for happiness that will break your heart into a million pieces and put it back together, bigger and better than before.
I loved this book. It’s a bit weird – but weird is good. It’s clever and funny and unusual, and Abi is a wonderful main character, insecure, but completely sincere, refreshingly honest and a character who just deserves to have a happy ending.
Abi’s brother’s mysterious disappearance has coloured her whole life, a nagging loss, that never completely goes away. The only other constant thing in her life are the chapters from a supposed guidebook, that have arrived randomly over the years, giving advice and suggestions, for no apparent reason, and with no apparent goal.
As the book opens, Abi has been invited to attend a retreat to learn the truth about the guidebook. The people she meets and the things she learns will change her life, and the lives of those around her.
Abi speaks with such warmth, and her struggles and confusions are so relatable. This is uplifting without being schmaltzy – Abi is something of a dreamer, but she always has one foot firmly on the ground.
My only issue was that it was a bit too long – there were some sections that could have been cut down quite a bit. But otherwise this is a lovely book, and one that will stay with me.
Alison Williams Writing 