This is a novel that just drew me in. It is not an easy book and no one should read it if they cannot bear to hear that children have been abused, cheated and murdered. So I guess that accounts for the lower reviews of people who want to live in a pretend, safe world when they read books. What the naysayers lost is a compelling group of characters, including Olive and Nessie. They are not sisters. Olive’s father brought Nessie and Hazel home, two Choctaw girls whose parents were gone. He and Olive’s mother made them part of the family but he died. Her mother became addicted to “opium powders” and the girls were left at the mercy of their abusive stepfather, a manager of one of Mr. Lockridges estates. Now, Hazel is gone and Olive knows her stepfather is eying her in an unnatural way and being too nice. It is time to leave and thus, the journey, the coming of age story, and how a lot of “feral” children in Oklahoma fared is shared in the past and present times, well 1909 and 1990.
The story is told from the point of view of the children and of a National Park Ranger who is assigned to the area near a town where Olive and Nessie and a group of ragtag children on their own lived for a time. Maybe it’s the audio version that brings this story totally to life, with excellent voices for Olive, Nessie, the bad guys and their group of friends. It is a coming of age story. It is a tribute to those who actively tried to protect the children. It is a horror show of treating Choctaw kids and their families as lower than animals but very valuable. It is a tale of murder and it is a huge tale of courage. The journey they take, the way they survive, or do not survive, is engaging every minute. Highly recommend.
They Called me Bookworm 