“There is only one reason anyone would sleep at the Poppy Fields. Love. Love makes people do wild things, things they can’t understand, things they might have sworn they would never, ever do.”
Summary - A speculative novel about grief and healing, centered around a controversial treatment center in the California desert where people can sleep through their pain. Four strangers with unique pasts embark on a journey to this facility, hoping to heal from heartache. Their individual secrets and motivations threaten to derail their trip, as they search for Ellis, the enigmatic founder of the Poppy Fields.
While this one wasn’t a book I was to get back to each time I put it down, the plot was intriguing enough that I was interested to find out what would happen. How their stories slowly unfolded kept the pace stea throughout. I appreciated its look at grief and how different people have different ways of healing/growing. I think the piece that was missing for me were how much we got of each character, I love a deep, character-driven book so this one was just ok for me.
I had DNFd The Measure last year (maybe just not the right mood for it?) but this one makes me wonder if I should give it another go?
Find The Poppy Fields at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
