Clarity by Kim Harrington

The novel I laid my eyes on and was then locked to for hours is “Clarity” by Kim Harrington. The main character in this story is a sixteen year old girl named Clarity Fern. She shares her mother’s red hair, freckels, blue eyes and petite frame. Clarity Fern lives with her mother and older brother, Periwinkle Fern in a tourist town at Cape Cod. Tourists — and more importantly, their money — are very important to the Fern family. They’re psychics. The real kind. Clare’s mother is a telepath, her older brother can see and talk to ghosts, and Clare is psychometrist, meaning that when she touches things, she has visions relating to the owner. Of course, most people think they’re either scam artists or a novelty just for fun, but the money raked in during summer tourism pays the bills during the winter. The family must eat.

Clare expects the upcoming summer to be more of the same — her wishing she were a normal girl without any psychic ability from a normal family without any psychic ability and her being trapped in the house by her mother to give readings to whatever tourists walk in. Unfortunately, she finds herself having to contend with a competitor: a new psychic has moved into town and worse still, she claims to see the future, which is something no one in the Fern family can do.

Things only get worse from there. A tourist is found murdered at a hotel. That’s bad enough. Murder has a way of scaring away tourists, which can mean economic death for a tourist town. But that’s not all. It turns out Clare’s womanizing older brother had sex with the victim the night she was killed and was the last person to see her alive, making him the prime suspect.

To further complicate the matter, it’s an election year for the position of town mayor so they want the investigation wrapped up as soon as possible. To that end, Clare is recruited by the current mayor’s son to unofficially help out, using her psychic ability. Of course, this also means she must work with the mayor’s son, who is her ex-boyfriend, and the new detective’s son, who hates all things psychic.

I really liked Clare as a protagonist. She’s no wallflower, waiting for the mysterious, hot new boy to come into town and sweep her off her feet. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, and she gets a lot of it because of her family’s particular line of work. When the detective’s son reveals that he hates psychics, Clare doesn’t let his hotness sway her. If he insults her, she calls him on it, especially as their investigation proceeds and she’s the one who finds all the leads thanks to her ability. I found it very refreshing.

While technically there are two love interests, I like that this isn’t the typical love triangle where Clare must choose between two different guys who represent two different worlds and where one is the obvious choice. Both guys have their flaws: Justin cheated on her and Gabriel doesn’t respect, or believe, her ability exists. Not only is the choice not obvious, but Clare must also contend with some serious hurdles no matter which one she chooses.

I also liked the portrayal of Clare’s relationship with her family. It felt like a genuine portrayal of a family, made up of quirky individuals with strong personalities. I liked that even though Clare constantly clashed with her mother, you could tell there was genuine love there. I loved that even though Clare adored Perry for protecting her growing up, she recognized that the way he treated girls was a major problem.

Jaiswarry Sundaram

4 Cergas

26th January 2014