As a child growing up in a small village in France, Adeline eagerly awaited the day she would be allowed to accompany her father to the market. She reveled in the sights, sounds, and smells all around. She delighted in sketching the people and scenes around her year after year. As she grew older, Adaline’s mother refused to allow her only child to continue the journeys, instead insisting she find a husband and start a family. Addie dreads the day when her wings of freedom may be clipped, and when her parents betrothed her to a man twice widowed, Addie is desperate to find an escape.

Despite a warning to never pray to the old gods who answer at night, Addie presses her final offering–a wooden ring crafted by her father–deep into the soil near the river…and is answered by night himself. Her plea for freedom is granted, but Addie could never guess at the true terms of the deal. Addie will live- never aging and free to explore to her heart’s content- but never truly known. Cursed with being forgotten the moment she is out of sight, Addie cannot even speak her own name, and her much-desired freedom may be the worst prison after all.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is exquisite. It is beautifully written, unfolding over years and cities and countries. Through it all, Addie remains unchanged physically but lives year after year with a deepening heartache, yearning for the three words she may never hear again: “I remember you.”

I loved this book, though getting attached to the story took me a little while. The author‘s style is singularly mesmerizing, resulting in a bold and heartbreakingly memorable story.