Perdita, Hilary Scharper

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*

Perdita, Hilary Scharper
Author: Hilary Scharper
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Pages: 448
Format: eArc
ISBN-10: 1492602442
ISBN-13: 9781492602446
Sourcebooks Landmark: various formats
Perdita



How old is Marged Brice really? In search for the oldest person in the country for the Longevity Project Garth Hellyer is introduced to Marged Brice. This healthy looking woman claims she is 134 years old and she has her birth certificate to proof it. She also claims she does not mind to die but cannot as she is held back by Perdita
Having the obvious doubts Garth promises her to read her journals in the hope to find out connections he can investigate to support her claim of her age. And who is this Perdita that keeps her alive?
Fighting his own ghosts from the past Garth and his childhood friend Clare try to find out the truth about Marged life. 

I enjoyed reading this book. There are two stories. One telling bits and pieces about Garth's life and how he is working on the investigation. The other part is formed by Marged journal's. Both stories are interesting to read but I missed the real connection between the two stories. It does make sense as Marged and Garth's life have nothing to do with each other except for the Longevity Project. Still I wanted more story in separate books or something like finding out he was her secret grandson. On the other hand I can appreciate that no connection was forced to make it like that.  
I liked Garth. He seems friendly and interested. Maybe at  points a bit obsessive. I could feel he was troubled and the reason why is disclosed in the story. Still there never was a point where he really touched me. I missed  a real spark, life, something that showed he was really more than just a character needed to investigate Marged story and not having an own story for the sake of it.
Marged on the other hand was very lively. She jumped of the pages but did annoy me at times too. Having a 19 year old girl who actually went to college in a 'big' city on the one hand but a girl who grew up in a lighthouse on a remote location somewhere on the other hand. I felt she was often to naive for someone who has been studying. She felt more like a silly teenager. So eventually I put the question about her age aside and just enjoyed her troubled love life stories.

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Isi
AUTHOR
19 January, 2015 delete

I missed a lot of things, for example, the connection between Perdita and Marged's longevity, because the book doesn't explain why she lived that long. And I think that the reader has to wait so long in order to finally find Perdita in the story; I thought she would be the main character, but she only appears in the end.
On the other hand, I liked Marged's story and the descriptions of Georgian Bay; it must be beautiful.

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