Reading Helen Oyeyemi's Peaces is like walking into a bizarre interstitial space between a surrealist narrative populated by mongooses and strange characters and the realm of classic Agatha Christie-esque mysteries that take place on trains to undisclosed locations. If that doesn't make much sense, you're beginning to get an idea of what this novel is like. When Otto Shin takes on his boyfriend Xavier's last name, Xavier's aging aunt gifts them train tickets to an unknown destination so they can celebrate their "non-honeymoon honeymoon" along with their pet mongoose, Árpád Montague XXX. Soon after their journey begins aboard The Lucky Day — a former tea-smuggling train — the couple meets Ava Kapoor, the puzzling owner of the train, and her harsh, controlling assistant. Ava is going to get a substantial inheritance soon, but a strange passenger that everyone seems to have met before threatens the inheritance.