Helpful Score: 4
When I first started this book I thought it sounded a bit too "Little House on the Prairie" style for me to enjoy. But, the story started to interest me and before long I was saying "just one more chapter" to myself. By the end of the book I felt as if I were holding my breath as I read the exciting end. I love the writing style, the characters and twist and turns in this book. I'm very glad I read it.
Helpful Score: 3
Finished reading this one last night - a very powerful story about a young girl's struggles growing up in rural Kentucky during the 1930s and 1940s. At first, the story seems to be a straight forward narrative about rural life in Kentucky including the hardships of surviving during the depression, issues regarding race and color, and family problems. But then the story evolves into a kind of mystery/thriller involving some very wicked people. I don't want to give away too much but this one kept me turning the pages right up to the surprising climax. I would give this one a strong recommendation.
Helpful Score: 2
I read a lot of books. Sometimes, when I'm not sure I want to finish a book, I skip to the back of the book and see what happened. With some books, this habit suffices, and I am able to finish reading the book and am satisfied with skipping the middle of it. With this book, things were a little different.
SPOILER ALERT - do not read further if you don't want to know a crucial detail of the book.
So, I'm reading along and I get the gist of things, kind of a sad story about a girl who didn't get too many breaks in life after her insane mother returned from the asylum when she was a pre-teen. Then, the father she loves passes away...so I'm reading it basically for the characters (this book has some interesting characters) and decide to skip ahead. Imagine my surprise when I turn randomly to a page that says something along the lines of ...and so I visited Pap in the prison...UM, HELLO? I thought he was dead. So of course I had to go back and read the whole thing. Yeah, it only took me a few more hours to finish the book. There's a whole mystery type thing going on in this book and it is worth the read!
Also read the little author mini-bio at the end. It sheds light on some of the characters and the direction of parts of the story. Bravo to the author for writing a multi-dimensional story. Very interesting read!
SPOILER ALERT - do not read further if you don't want to know a crucial detail of the book.
So, I'm reading along and I get the gist of things, kind of a sad story about a girl who didn't get too many breaks in life after her insane mother returned from the asylum when she was a pre-teen. Then, the father she loves passes away...so I'm reading it basically for the characters (this book has some interesting characters) and decide to skip ahead. Imagine my surprise when I turn randomly to a page that says something along the lines of ...and so I visited Pap in the prison...UM, HELLO? I thought he was dead. So of course I had to go back and read the whole thing. Yeah, it only took me a few more hours to finish the book. There's a whole mystery type thing going on in this book and it is worth the read!
Also read the little author mini-bio at the end. It sheds light on some of the characters and the direction of parts of the story. Bravo to the author for writing a multi-dimensional story. Very interesting read!
This is the story of a poor family in the Kentucky mountains. Olivia's mother is committed to an asylum when Olivia was a baby. Olivia is raised by her father until her mother returns 13 years later and totally disrupt Olivia's life with her father. This is a great book about discrimination, love, unwed mothers's, murder and more.
This book started out a little slow for me but once I got into it I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is set in Kentucky in the mid 1930's and the story centers around Olivia who has not had an easy life. The story brings to light the struggles of the depression, prejudice, and segregation at that time in our country. It also focuses on love of family and a mystery to solve. There are some twists and turns in the story and the last 100 pages deliver a suspense filled ending. The story is compelling, surprising and enjoyable.
This is a must read!
