Christopher Booker in 2019 wrote a fascinating account of what he called “The seven basic plots: why we tell stories.” When I read it(a long slog only for the diehard) I recalled how often I knew just where a novel was going. Unless I was enjoying the characters and settings, it no longer held my interest.

Janelle Brown’s newest novel What Kind of Paradise falls into the time honored coming of age story. Here our central character,Jane, has been raised in isolation for 17 years with her father deep in the Montana woods. When she finally stumbles upon hidden papers that tell a different story from her father’s, she sets out across the country seeking truth.

We are often ahead of her as we suspect more about her father. Still she comes to know what we know. The focus shifts to this young adult trying to figure out what she gained and what she lost in her upbringing. While the memoir Educated covered similar ground I found Brown’s depiction of Jane more nuanced and thus more convincing.

I also appreciated that the novel avoided violence and abuse from her father. Rather it focused on her father’s efforts to shape her outlook on the world. Jane (now Esme) has to grow into her own person. And what is coming of age, after all, but a time to form our own identity, apart from that handed to us in our family?