The Edges

The Edges follows an unnamed narrator who returns to his bleak seaside hometown after his mother’s death, forcing him to confront a childhood marked by neglect, violence, and the isolation of growing up gay. Through flashbacks and a reunion with his former childhood crush, past and present painfully intertwine. Omg - what an absolutely heart-shattering book 💔 I’ve rarely felt such a deep connection to a character in so few pages. We don't even know his name, and yet he feels painfully real. Tijssens masterfully weaves childhood trauma into the present narrative, showing how the past never truly stays in the past 😮‍💨 Every flashback feels like stepping into a room where the air is too thin to breathe... You can feel the fear, the humiliation, the violence...and it's SUFFOCATING. And then there’s that brief reunion with his childhood crush. For a moment — just a fragile, flickering moment — you feel hope. Warmth 🥺. The possibility that maybe something beautiful can grow from all that ruin. That night together feels like standing at the edge of something new. Only for that hope to be quietly, mercilessly shattered. The ending truly pulled the ground from under my feet...