I really enjoyed Laurie Frankel's This Is How It Always Is and her latest novel One Two Three was just as wonderful. Mab, Monday, and Mirabel are triplets born in a time of hardship for their small town, Bourne. A chemical plant has poisoned the water and the repercussions are immense. Now sixteen and doing their best to survive high school and a dying town, they are determined to make things better. Included with the sisters is a whole cast of remarkable characters: Nora, their mother, who has been fighting to bring a lawsuit against the chemical company their whole lives; Omar, the mayor, who some hold at least partially responsible for what happened; Pooh, the old blind woman who isn't blind that Mab reads to once a week; and River, the son and grandson of the owners of the chemical plant whose family has moved back to town to try to reopen the plant.
I loved this book. I love that Frankel opens it with the caveat that this is a work of fiction but also that it is based on real things that have happened in real towns and that continue to happen today. A quote from the book:
If the water were contaminating wealthy Bostonians, that would be unacceptable and addressed.
But Bourne? Bourne is completely disposable.
This is an environmental story and one about people with different physical abilities and disabilities. This is a story about suffering, but also overcoming; about fighting for what is right even if it isn't necessarily in the way some people would say is the right way. Frankel writes fantastic characters and with so much heart. I have read some really good books this year and this one is right near the top.
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