Diane Winger

What an amazing book! It is one I didn’t want to put down. I ended up reading this book in a single day.
Ellie is having the worst time of it. First the fires that have them moving from the west coast to the east coast only to have a hurricane destroy that home. And oh yeah, in with this, her husband of forty years decides to leave and falls off the face of the earth. Sounds pretty bad doesn’t it? But then one day Ellie decides to put on her big girl pants and it is inspiring! Maybe I was so enthralled because buying a camper and just going where I want to, when I want to has been a dream of mine for years. I loved watching Ellie grow. It wasn’t always smooth and wasn’t overnight, making this realistic and relatable. I adored her friendship with Ruth. Everyone needs to experience that kind of friendship. I also loved Charli who reminded me of a cat who adopted me after my divorce. It’s so amazing how animals know exactly what you need.
I recommend this book to all my friends, especially those who want to do the camping life, have a special friend or are seeking one, or who are in need of a shot of inspiration. If you are reading reviews for this book, get it and read it. I’m sure you will enjoy it.… (mais)

I received a mobi.file [KINDLE] copy of this book from the author through a giveaway she recently had on LibraryThing.com and the following is my honest opinion.

What is the worst thing that could possible happen to a young, innocent ten-year-old girl? If you’re thinking being abandoned by the child’s mother, then you’ve got the beginning for this story by Diane Winger. For that is what has happened to Robin and her sister. While her sister gets sent off to the father’s sister, Robin gets sent to relatives who she only knows by what she’s heard about them and as you might be suspecting in reality they’re far worse than that.

Robin is essentially a free spirit who resents having to be tied down, but this is precisely what these relatives are doing to her since the moment she first arrived. Day after day they never ceased in their attempts to contain her free wild spirit, and to deprive her of the independence she once had enjoyed. Eventually when she begins to fear she’ll wind up without any future if she remains in the hellhole she’s living in, and decides to run away.

As fate would have it, Robin meets another young girl, not much older than she is, Katharine. Katharine, who at sixteen and pregnant, knows all too well what being left to fend for herself is like. While Robin desires to return to a time when she was happy, Katharine is essentially seeking the same desires. As they time together passes, their lives get unexpectedly changed that neither come would have ever suspected.

The story progresses for both of their lives continue for several years, flip-flopping between the two. Eventually Robin becomes a mother herself but then abruptly abandons them just like her mother had abandoned her and her younger sister.

For having given me and her readers an extremely poignant story that is all too real, I’ve decided to give this book 5 STARS.… (mais)