The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

The Accident Season is Moira Fowley-Doyle's debut novel. Her next novel will be released next year. Fowley-Doyle lives and writes in Ireland where her novels are set.

Every October brings the accident season down on the Morris family during which its members suffer inexplicable accidents that usually cause bodily harm or worse. Some years are worse than others; there was the accident season that claimed Cara's father and the one in which her uncle Seth died. Despite the family's extra precautions every accident season, such as adding extra layers of clothing, padding to sharp edges around the house, or replacing the gas range with an electric one, Cara and her mother, sister, Alice, and ex-stepbrother, Sam, suffer cuts, scrapes, bruises and broken bones. And according to Cara's best friend Bea's tarot cards, this accident season is going to be the worst of them all. Because this accident season won't just tear skin and break bone, it will reveal dark and painful emotional scars buried deep within the family's psyche.

After discovering the presence of a mysterious local girl named Elsie in every one of her photos, Cara becomes consumed with tracking her down. However, now that Cara has stopped ignoring her existence, Elsie has inexplicably disappeared. And no one at school really remembers her or knows where she lives despite the many years she ran the secrets booth and art exhibit in the school library.

This year Cara is questioning both her memories and the nature of the accident season. Soon it becomes clear that not all of the injuries that her family's sustained over the years can be written off as accidents. Because the accident season provides the perfect cover and alibi for all manner of deliberate injuries, abuse, self-harm, and even murder. This accident season the Morris family's darkest secrets are finally being blown open once and for all. But will revealing the truth happen too late for some of them or just in time to prevent a tragedy from which the family may never recover?

This is a lyrically told, subtly supernatural story that you won't be able to put down.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

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