Faith, guilt, family responsibilities and cultural norms overlap and clash in Carys Bray's debut novel. A Song for Issy Bradley explores the effects of the sudden death of its youngest member on a Mormon family living on the English coast.
As a convert to the Mormon church, Claire Bradley has often found life as a bishop's wife challenging, but when four-year-old Issy is suddenly and fatally stricken with meningitis, she no longer has any strength for, or interest in, the struggle. Issy could not be saved by her father's blessing, and Claire blames herself and her weak faith, doubling the loss to the rest of the Bradleys. Rather than provide comfort, the family's beliefs seem to complicate the way Claire and her husband Ian respond to the loss; Bray's depiction of Claire's grief is particularly stark and affecting.
Meanwhile, the older Bradley children, Zipporah and Al, are adrift and resentful of the expectations that their community and their father have placed on them in the wake of Issy's death, and their younger brother Jacob--with a seven-year-old's understanding of his church's teachings--is intent on making a miracle happen to set things right for his family.
The Bradleys' Mormon identity is central to the story. Bray's portrayal of a community practicing this American-born faith in England offers a fresh and particular perspective. At the same time, her rendering of a family finding its way through grief strikes a universal, sympathetic chord. --Florinda Pendley Vasquez, blogger at The 3 R's Blog: Reading 'Riting, and Randomness