Review: A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

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The book A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty, the first in a series entitled The Colours of Madeleine, is paraphrased thus on Goodreads:

"Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World – a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie’s Tea Shop.

Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello – where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours.

They are worlds apart – until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white – the slim seam of a letter.

A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds them and the colours that infuse them."

It is a fantastic story set in two very different worlds: one recognizable as this one, one a fantastical rural place where Colours are personified and can have beneficial or horrendous impact on daily life. Our characters are also very different: a girl who ran away with her mother and therefore exists in a world of her own fantasy, and a boy who lives in a fantasy but is attached to the concrete, fixable problems. And yet they can communicate, through letters, in a crack between worlds.

In a Corner of White we see the troubles of family, friendship, daily hardships, lost fathers, struggling communities, prejudice, and of course lessons on science played out in very different ways in very different worlds - but all in a way that in this world still remains relevant. There is courage, cowardice, kindness, confusion, and a kidnapping - what more do you need? The questions left yet unanswered at the conclusion only make the reader puzzle more and more into Moriarty's twin universes, and will make for a thoroughly interesting series.

This novel by Moriarty is genuinely wonderful literature. It is well-written, has deep, relatable characters, and two settings that are intriguing and beautiful. She also seamlessly connects the two with her two main characters, and switches between narratives while keeping the reader wanting more. The fantasy and the mundane combine in intriguing ways, and the plot only speeds up towards the surprising ending: making this reader, for one, very eager for the series to continue.

Four out of Four stars.