Book Review: ‘What Jonah Knew: A Novel’ By Barbara Graham

A fascinating novel about a little boy Jonah, who claims he’s has the memories of a 22-year old man named Henry who went missing months before his birth. Henry Bird is in a band and they just a bad set in front of a music producer. He decides to walk back to his motel to cleat his head and is picked up by a man who was at the show and he seemed to know. That is the last we see of Henry. Helen is his mother and is frantic to find him. Henry’s girlfriend is about to give birth to their first child and there’s no sign of what might have happened to Henry. Lucie and Matt Pressman are in the same town at the time Henry goes missing and then Jonah is born months later in the same town Henry went missing in. Jonah has these weird dreams/memories of Henry’s and claims he has another mother and a dog. When Lucie and Matt rent a cabin back in that small town and become friendly with Helen it all comes to a climax, with Jonah’s memories playing a key part in what happened all those years ago. A very intense character driven novel that keeps you engaged throughout the novel and makes you wonder if someone can come back in another body. A real page-turner.

You can pick up What Jonah Knew in stores on Tuesday, July 5th from Harper Paperbacks.