What We Harvest

“So it had finally come to kill us. The sickest part was, I’d started to believe we were invincible- that somehow the miracle of our farm might protect us.”

Wren lives in a small town called Hollow’s End; known for their famous bountiful crops of blue melons and rainbow hued wheat. Hollow’s End is successful and tourists travel far and wide to visit the farms up until a blight slowly takes over the farms. Each farm becomes poisoned by the quicksilver mercury blight, including the animals and then coming for the humans soon after. Those infected are gone in the forest during the day but come out at night, looking like a rotting corpse with white eyes. No one knows what they do or what they are doing till then. 

Wren is one of the last ones standing but knows that she doesn’t have much time left. Her parents have disappeared with one of their neighbors and she’s left alone at home. With the help of her neighbor and ex-boyfriend Derek, they work together with his family to try to figure out a way of stopping the blight before it’s too late. They unlock many secrets that lead to the town’s past and learn that not everything about their family and ancestors is not as innocent as it appears. 

The book is fast paced and wraps up together in an expected ending. In between chapters we get to see an insight of Wren’s past and how life was before it had all changed from the blight. The writing itself is lovely and easy to read at the same time. There is also an eerie sense of unease throughout reading and you can feel that something evil is lurking from beyond the trees and may attack at any moment. The book definitely made me feel transported right into it. Fraistat’s young adult debut is one to check out if you’re interested in small town secrets and plagues. I’m curious to see what she will come up with next!

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.