Kate Sterns’ second novel, Down There by the Train, takes its cue from Alice in Wonderland, but in Sterns’ world Alice is dead and it is her older brother, Levon, who falls down the rabbit hole.

Drowning in grief for Alice and just released from prison, Levon walks across a frozen lake to an island to work for his crazed cousin, a baker with a Frankensteinesque plan for his dough. But on the way Levon stumbles upon Obdulia, a mythically beautiful young woman who not only shares Levon’s taste for language, but grieves the death of a loved one. Levon soon finds himself pressed into service in a scheme to end Obdulia’s mourning, one that involves grave-robbing and a baking contest. A woman who becomes pregnant with the help of a body of water and a Gretel-like girl who does not escape the witch’s oven contribute to the novel’s fairy tale quality.

Sterns is well versed in magic realist and gothic conventions, but skillfully prevents these literary tropes from dominating the story. Balancing elegant description with witty dialogue, Sterns never allows the strangeness of her characters to diminish their humanity. Levon, however, is unconvincing as an ex-con. Absorbed in grief for his sister and love for Obdulia, he seems to forget he was ever in prison at all. Otherwise the characters are drawn with sensitivity, especially in scenes where Levon and Obdulia let go of the security of self-imposed isolation and grief.

A novel that discusses grief and loss to such a degree risks becoming stoic and sombre, but Sterns brings her tale to life with humour and a clear vision of life down the rabbit hole.