by Kaylie Seed
Content Warning: gore
Sue Rainsford’s magical realism debut is unlike anything that you will read this year. Follow Me to Ground is delightfully disturbing, unique, and, well—it is weird in the best way possible. Ada and her father are otherworldly beings living among “Cures” (humans), and they have the gift to cure sickness in humans. While Ada and her father appear to be human, likely to ease the humans they cure, they are far from it; they are beings that have come from the “Ground.” As the story progresses, Ada struggles with continuing with life as it has always been, and with falling in love with Samson, a human.
Rainsford has chosen to not use quotation marks in Follow Me to Ground to indicate when a character is speaking, and even though there aren’t quotation marks, the reader can still differentiate between character voices and hear the uniqueness in each of them. Rainsford has included topics in Follow Me to Ground such as forbidden love, the father-daughter relationship, and coming-of-age. The three of these themes blend as Ada struggles between acting on her calling and what she truly desires.
Rainsford’s prose is simply stunning and captivating; she even manages to take scenes with creepy elements and makes them sound beautiful. Follow Me to Ground is short, to the point, and can easily be read in one sitting. There are some parts of the plot that can make the reader uneasy, however, the reader will want to know what is going to happen next. Rainsford is talented and can conjure up a story that hasn’t been told yet. It will be interesting to see what she comes up with next and because of that, she is an author I’ll be keeping an eye on.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.