Chrissie is eight and she has a secret: she has
just killed a boy. The feeling made her belly fizz like soda pop. Her playmates
are tearful and their mothers are terrified, keeping them locked indoors. But
Chrissie rules the roost -- she's the best at wall-walking, she knows how to
get free candy, and now she has a feeling of power that she never gets at home,
where food is scarce and attention scarcer.
Twenty years later, adult Chrissie is living in
hiding under a changed name. A single mother, all she wants is for her daughter
to have the childhood she herself was denied. That's why the threatening phone
calls are so terrifying. People are looking for them, the past is catching up,
and Chrissie fears losing the only thing in this world she cares about, her
child.
Review:
The synopsis for this book makes you want to hate Chrissie. She sounds
awful, like she knows exactly what she’s doing. I to be fair I felt like hating
her myself – bossy, unruly, not a care in the world, a bully to her best friend
and others and the list could go on. Just not a nice child – and to top it all
off she kills a three year old boy Steven – and it makes her feel powerful.
And then you get introduced to Julia – grown woman with a little girl
called Molly – and absolutely terrified of losing her. When she starts getting
phone calls and Molly gets hurt and social worker arranges an appointment,
Julia panics and leaves for her hometown, where her mother moved back to whilst
she was in a children’s home (instead of prison).
The book alternates the story of eight year old Chrissie and those parts
are written in a simpler language that Chrissie would use at that age – it’s a
clever way to make the story more authentic. So we find out more about her life
as a small child, while adult Julia visits her old home town and decides what
to do next.
I can’t hate her – I have a lot of sympathy for her. When her childhood
is revealed along with her understanding of life, death, role of a mother and
father and everything that shapes a person at that age – how could you not sympathise.
It’s a controversial feeling, but the more I knew about little Chrissie the
more I wanted to give her a hug and hope that as Julia, she will be ok. Julia
is clearly good mum, giving her little girl everything, whilst not asking
anything in return, even love.
I am so glad to have read this. It’s thought-provoking, difficult, and
definitely a book that will stay with me for a while.
Thank you to TBConFB for this book.
Rating: 5/5
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