This is an emotionally gripping novel that's based on a real life scandal whereby poor children were sometimes kidnapped from caring biological parents, then put in deplorable "homes." The luckier children were adopted. Many did not survive. This tale revolved around a fictional family but the events in the novel were drawn from survivor's accounts of the suffering they endured. So the suffering is real, although the characters are fictional. The chapters revolve around two people, Rill (spoiler: also known as May) and Avery. The biggest mystery in the book is how Rill and Avery are connected. But there are a lot of other mysteries and sub plots and many great characters to love (and hate) in this book.

People who like drama, especially family drama, stories about family relationships, stories about scandals, stories about people who dig deep and find inner strength.

Rill/May's character. I love how much she cared for her siblings and that she gave all she had in her attempts to keep them safe. She did a great job with character development.

She also did a great job with connecting things. The tin cross, how Rill feels about her sister, Fern being her heart at different stages of life.

I also loved the concept that we "travel a living river" (page 587 of the large print edition).
There were a lot of neat things like this in the book. Little things that grab your heart or make you think.

The evil characters. The fact that this is based on truth makes their terrible deeds even more so. But we're meant to hate the bad guys so it's not a drawback to the book.

Rescue children everywhere. Maybe go to law school after all.

All the feelings... I cried, I was shocked, I loved the Foss family, my heart broke in parts, I rejoiced in others.

Is very talented, particularly with character development and evoking feelings.

It was an excellent story.

There is terrible violence against children.

I borrowed the large print copy of this book from my local library and read the book as part of "Rising Stars Book Club" . It was an excellent selection.

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Created Aug 22, 2019 at 2:32pm • Submit your own review...