It has been years since I've so taken with a book. Carry The One is one of those rare well crafted books on several levels. High quality of writing, excellent story, pacing, drama, humor and poignancy. It is one of only a handful of books in the past 5 years I've read twice just to experience the writing and nauances a second time.

This is a story about Carmen, Nick and Alice a group of siblings bound together by a horrible accident that takes the life of a young girl, and continues to distract and to develop each of the siblings in different ways over the ensuing 25 years of their lives. There are many ways to handle this grief. The magic here is Anshaws exploration of how Alice a painter fuels her art with images of the little girl who died, or how Nick recklessly seeks his relief through drugs and alcohol or Carmen, whose constant protest marching and volunteering fail to make any emotional relief.

This is a well drawn novel with careful development of characters through 25 years of their life and defined by one event that sends them across this span of time in differnt directions yet bound and tethered to one single event. It's powerful, elegiac and pitch perfect characters you care about, hurt for and endear yourself to.

A perfect book.