Mending the Moon

Melinda Soto aged sixty-four vacationing in Mexico is murdered by a fellow American tourist. . Back in her hometown of Reno Nevada she leaves behind her adopted son Jeremy whom she rescued from war-torn Guatamala when he was a toddler―just one of her many causes over the years. And she leaves behind a circle of friends: Veronique the academic stuck in a teaching job from which she cant retire; Rosemary whos losing her husband to Alzheimers and whos trying to lose herself in volunteer work; Henrietta the priest at Rosemarys and Melindas church.. Jeremy already had a fraught relationship with his charismatic mother and the people in her orbit. Now her death is tearing him apart and he can barely stand the rituals of remembrance that ensue among his mothers friends. Then the police reveal who killed Melinda: a Seattle teenager who flew home to his parents and drowned himself just days later.. Its too much. Jeremys not the only one who cant deal. Friendships fray. But the unexpected happens: an invitation to them all from the murderers mother to come to Seattle for his memorial. Its ridiculous. And yet somehow each of them begins to see in it a chance to heal. Aided in peculiar ways by Jeremys years-long obsession with the comic-book hero Comrade Cosmos and the immense cult of online commentary its spawned.. Shot through with feeling and inventiveness Susan Palwicks Mending the Moon is a novel of the odd paths that lead to home.