I generally don’t enjoy slow reads but Nina LaCour’s books are absolute gems. And they have stunning covers that take your breath away. LaCour’s writing is sparse and neat and the stories she tells are simple yet haunting. If you haven’t read her yet, I can’t recommend her enough. ‘Watch Over Me’ might feel a little off if you aren’t used to LaCour’s style but if you don’t mind something different to what you usually read, you’re in for a treat. An eerie ghost story about recovering from trauma and finding yourself, Watch Over Me is bittersweet and fills you with hope.

After graduating from high school and aging out of the foster care system, Mila takes up a teaching job in an isolated part of Northern California coast. She takes this as a chance to begin life afresh and maybe find a new home. But the farm is haunted—by ghosts of the past. Everybody there has suffered abuse, abandonment or neglect to a degree.

Mila too has her issues. Having lived with an abusive man (her mother’s boyfriend) who manipulated them till he died and a mother who didn’t care about her much, there are things that she still struggles to accept and understand. She also has secrets that haunt her. As a teacher at the facility, her job is to help the wards under her care. But the children and other adults at the farm might have a role to play in helping Mila overcome her grief and issues as well. The road to recovery isn’t an easy one though.

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Watch Over Me is a short book but quite profound. The story is told in dual timelines but the stunning contrasting imagery doesn’t leave much room for confusion. Mila, at times, feels like an unreliable narrator. You are confused whether the ghosts and the tokens of the past that she finds at the farm are real, conjured up by her own mind, or tricks people around her are playing on her. This aspect of the story makes it a compelling read. There is also a horde of other characters who feel like people you know and lend the story a warm, comforting feel.  

You can finish the book in a single afternoon but you won’t be able to pick up anything else immediately after. This beautiful story of self-exploration and growth that makes you realize that the real demons live inside you in the form of fear, insecurities, and trauma will stay with you for a while.

Watch Over Me

Three and half stars
Nina LaCour
Published: 2020
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 261, Paperback