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A heart-tugging and thoughtful look at love, loneliness, and searching — for answers to the secrets that all humans yearn to untangle — What makes a life “good”, and what, in the end, is it all “for”?

Told in the voices of multiple characters, between these pages we will meet several people who live, love, and center their lives around Gabriel Fisher, an eighteen-pound baby who grows up to become a giant — the tallest man on earth — laying claim to a life that is unquestionably unique.

Our story is revealed by each of the following:

Hannah Fisher, grandmother to Gabriel, a devout Amish woman, and yet a lover of Emily Dickinson, who identifies with the existential questions raised by the poet, and struggles with what this means to her lifelong convictions.

Dr Thomas Kennedy, a “soft spoken, veterinarian haunted by his past, who only wanted to live a quiet life someplace the modern world had left behind”. Thomas befriends the child Gabriel, who, from a very young age, has an immediate and special bond with all creatures Dr Kennedy may minister to.

Billy Walton and Trey Beathard — a tavern owner and a high school basketball coach, respectively — each man finding something in Gabriel to wonder at, to cherish, and to desperately need to be a part of.

As Gabriel grows into the extravagance of his extraordinary life, his story is complex and woven loosely with equal parts hero’s journey, small-town rite of passage, Amish community insights, and an unmistakable undercurrent of a deeply mystical force, perhaps even best described as magical.

I found myself captured by this book, with its graceful charm, and its unique, compassionate take on the pains and joys of boundaries, once released.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.