For lack of more professional language, this novel completely blew me away.  The writing is so superbly controlled and confident.  The moments Ward navigates are tense and affecting without falling into melodrama or pastiche.  And the fact that there are elements of the supernatural/spiritual in it does not in any way work against the very grueling reality of the subject matter she is taking on.  Perhaps my favorite thing about this work is the way Ward pulls the reader's allegiance back and forth between the different characters, testing our ability to empathize with even the novel's apparent villains.  My favorite novel of 2017.