Ratings10
Average rating4.7
I will carry this book around in my heart for a long time. This is not a story about child abuse, it is instead a story about what happens after the rescue. The (re)acclimation to a society that the girls have been removed from for many years, the idea of becoming a new person while dragging the weight of of who you used to be with you into this new world. I HIGHLY recommend it for fans of Jo Knowles, Jeanette Walls, etc. It is a survival story. It will rip your heart out, but Carey's strength is so amazing that you cannot help but cheer. Great writing, great characters. I could have done with a little more resolution (and I can't get into it, because it would be spoilery). And while Joelle should go down as one of the worst mothers in fiction history, the setting of this story (The Hundred Acre Woods) is what really, really makes it. There is some (accidental?) foreshadowing that doesn't lead anywhere, and that had me worried for no reason.
Overall, a tough and well written read. I'm not sure how it would fly in my Teen Book Clubs, but the discussions it would spawn would be interesting.