December is the story of Isabelle and her self-imposed silence. As winter comes outside, her silence blows a cold wind over family life, freezing their previous happiness, making everything as fragile as ice.
It is the story of a girl whose quest for power leaves her ultimately powerless - powerless to break her own stifling rules. It is the story of her parents desperation, of their helplessness and of the crippling pain they endure at their daughter's withdrawal.
It is a story full of the seasons, art and images. It is slow and intense. A review on amazon says nothing much happens - and it's true, nothing much does, but that nothingness is captured so perfectly by the richness of the language that it comes alive with emotion.
It is the emotion of someone recoiling in horror as they inflict pain on the people they love, yet carrying on because they can't find a way to stop. It is an emotion so strong that it makes December once of the best novels I've read in a while.
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