The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Titled from the Rumi poem 'The Diver's Clothes Lying Empty', this unconventional travel story follows a woman who suddenly abandons her life, flying off to Casablanca.

Vendela Vida is the author of two New York Times notable books of the year and her script from her novel Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name received a Sundance filmmaking award.

Using a second-person narration, you are on a plane bound for Casablanca, although you have heard the first thing to do in Casablanca is to get out of Casablanca. When you arrive at your hotel, your backpack with everything you own is stolen. You tell the police a false name, they return to you a found backpack with someone else's passport and you assume that woman's name, moving to another hotel where a movie is being filmed. You are asked by the company to be a stand-in for the internationally famous movie star, and she befriends you, although you've given her yet a different false name and history. The story rolls from one improbable event to another, while you frequently change names, fluidly creating a new future.

Called a philosophical thriller, this is part mystery/part travelogue written in a wry style - a sort of comedic Patricia Highsmith. It's easy to get caught up in the changing storyline, forgetting that you still don't know 'your'/'her' reasons for running. Vida deftly weaves that in.

Unusual and entertaining, I'll seek out her other titles and recommend this one as memorable.

2015 / Tradeback / 216 pages