Marianne’s Pick of the Week: The Poppy Fields by Nikki Erlick

If  you lost a loved one and found yourself unable to manage your profound sadness and sense of loss, would you choose to sleep it away? Could you sleep your grief away?

Nikki Erlick poses these are the questions in her newest, speculative work, The Poppy Fields.

Our tale begins in the Kansas City airport. The four main characters, Sasha, Ava (and her sweet pup, PJ), Ray and Sky are hunkered down around the airport waiting for a tornado to pass. The tornado damage results in the cancellation of all flights. Ava (and PJ), Sasha and Ray wind up renting a bright yellow car. The group nicknames the vehicle Canary and hits the road (don’t worry Sky will return).

Our travelers head to the Poppy Fields, an experimental grief treatment center where patients are given a month of sleep to overcome grief. Each traveler’s reason for heading to the Poppy Fields is different. Ray needs to know out why his brother died. Sasha wishes to understand why she was rejected for “the sleep.”  And Ava wants to reconnect with and confront her sister who is the founder of The Poppy Fields.

As the group drives along, they pick up Sky who is hitchhiking across the country. While she maybe young, Sky’s curiosity and joy infects the others. Her questions result in each traveler revealing their secrets, sorrows, and the impact their losses have had on their lives. Conversations that cause each to reconsider their motives for going to the Poppy Fields.

This is a story, at its heart, of shared humanity, grief, and loss. A poignant tale of what people are willing to do to overcome their sorrows.

This is a book for you if you liked Faithful by Alice Hoffman or Immaculate Conception by Ling Ling Huang.