review: under this unbroken sky by shandi mitchell

Bleak. That’s the one word to describe Under This Unbroken Sky. The novel starts with a brief prologue revealing that by the end of the book three people will be dead. That knowledge kept me going; if I hadn’t known that fact, I may have decided the book was simply too depressing to finish. Nearly every possible bad thing happens to the two families who are connected because the father of one and mother of the other are siblings. At first both families are led by women who are essentially single moms. Maria’s husband is in prison and Anna’s prefers the company of a bottle and other women. Despite that, they actually seem to be doing well; Anna was able to acquire land for both families. Unfortunately everything goes downhill once both husbands return. They get into a dispute over the land, there’s a fire that destroys much of the property and food, and so much more tragedy. It became a little too much to take, especially because the characters were not likable. The adults were irresponsible and most of the children were brats. The one bright spot came when young Lesya convinced Maria to include a chick with a deformity similar to Lesya's own in the batch being purchased; she named it Happiness.
3/5
ARC Review