Hiding in the Weave

Hiding in the Weave, written from the perspective of 18-year-old Joel Barlev, a senior at Delamere, a school geared to talented young artists, plays off themes typically found in classic boarding school novels (like….)—requited and unrequited romantic relationships, alienation, rebellion, sexuality, troubled home lives, moral dilemmas, epiphanies and acquiring maturity. But there is more here . . . much more . . . “What cannot be spoken shall be danced. What cannot be danced shall be woven. And what cannot be woven shall be marked upon the flesh.” That’s the strange mantra of Liv Anders, a gifted dancer and weaver at Delamere. Joel, an equally gifted ceramic artist, finds himself falling in love with her, as intrigued by her mantra as by her casual comment regarding their different art forms: “You gouge your pots to show your pain to the world. I hide my pain in the weave.” It turns out there is something hidden in one of Liv’s abstract weavings, and when tragedy strikes, Joel and his two best friends, Justin and Kate, feel compelled to uncover it. The novel follows the four from the start of their senior year at Delamere through graduation and a little beyond. Hiding in the Weave is a novel for adults about the strivings of youth. . . love, passion, art, art-making, growing up and letting go. It takes the traditional coming-of-age boarding school novel into fascinating new territory.