The Probability of Miracles
Wendy Wunder

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Autumn

Synopsis:

Dry, sarcastic, sixteen-year-old Cam Cooper has spent the last seven years in and out of hospitals. The last thing she wants to do in the short life she has left is move 1,500 miles away to Promise, Maine – a place known for the miraculous events that occur there. But it’s undeniable that strange things happen in Promise: everlasting sunsets; purple dandelions; flamingos in the frigid Atlantic; an elusive boy named Asher; and finally, a mysterious envelope containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies. As Cam checks each item off the list, she finally learns to believe – in love, in herself, and even in miracles. (Goodreads)

Review:

I can’t remember the last time that I read a book that made me so emotional right from the start.  The Probability of Miracles is one such book.

Campbell Cooper is a very young sixteen years old and is fighting incurable cancer.  She hides her real feelings behind sharp sarcasm and logic, which I found both exasperating and endearing.  Her eccentric mother, Alicia, tries to get Cam to believe in hope again by taking her and her younger sister, Perry, on a trip to a city in Maine that is rumored to be the center of some unexplained activity.

Promise has seen some incredible miracles.  People have been inexplicably cured, animals have suddenly appeared where they shouldn’t and flowers bloom in strange colors.  It is here that Cam meets a beautiful boy by the name of Asher.

Asher is one of my favorite characters in the book.  His free spirit turns out to be just the thing to help Cam embrace her life just as it is. He makes a pact to help her check off all of the things that are on her “Flamingo” list and in the process they fall deeply in love.  Under the wide blue sky of Promise, Cam seems to finally get well – until she isn’t.

I related to Cam on so many levels.  I grew up in the same area as she did and that added another subtle nuance for me to experience it once again through her eyes.

I felt as if I was on a wild emotional rollercoaster while reading this book and would recommend reading it in a place where you aren’t afraid to break into an ugly cry because it is just that brilliantly haunting.