Sweetgirl by Travis Mulhauser Published by Ecco on February 2nd 2016
Pages: 256
Genres: Southern Gothic/Country Noir
Format: Hardcover
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Also by this author: Sweetgirl
As a blizzard bears down, Percy James sets off to find her troubled mother, Carletta. For years, Percy has had to take care of herself and Mama—a woman who’s been unraveling for as long as her daughter can remember. Fearing Carletta is strung out on meth and that she won’t survive the storm, Percy heads for Shelton Potter’s cabin, deep in the woods of Northern Michigan. A two-bit criminal, as incompetent as he his violent, Shelton has been smoking his own cook and grieving the death of his beloved Labrador, Old Bo.
But when Percy arrives, there is no sign of Carletta. Searching the house, she finds Shelton and his girlfriend drugged into oblivion—and a crying baby girl left alone in a freezing room upstairs. From the moment the baby wraps a tiny hand around her finger, Percy knows she must save her—a split-second decision that is the beginning of a dangerous odyssey in which she must battle the elements and evade Shelton and a small band of desperate criminals, hell-bent on getting that baby back.
Knowing she and the child cannot make it alone, Percy seeks help from Carletta’s ex, Portis Dale, who is the closest thing she’s ever had to a father. As the storm breaks and violence erupts, Percy will be forced to confront the haunting nature of her mother’s affliction and finds her own fate tied more and more inextricably to the baby she is determined to save.
Filled with the sweeping sense of cultural and geographic isolation of its setting—the hills of fictional Cutler County in northern Michigan—and told in Percy’s unflinching style, Sweetgirl is an affecting exploration of courage, sacrifice, and the ties that bind—a taut and darkly humorous tour-de-force that is horrifying, tender, and hopeful.
With comparisons to Winter’s Bone and a beautiful cover reminiscent of The Ploughmen, I knew I needed to read this one.
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Patty @ BookishWanderlove
Now this sounds like something I would read! I’ll have to keep my eyes out for this one. Thanks for sharing :).
My WoW
Bonnie
Glad to hear it! Hope we both enjoy it. 🙂
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Tammy @ Books Bones & Buffy
Wow this sounds amazing! This is the first I’ve heard of it, but thanks for sharing! Winter’s Bone is a comparison that definitely grabs my attention.
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Bonnie
Here’s hope it lives up to it! 🙂
Bonnie recently posted…Book Review – Love Lies Beneath: A Novel by Ellen Hopkins
Carrie
this is the first I’ve heard of this book! Sounds good! My WoW
Krystianna Straley
This sounds good! I’ve not heard of it until now. I don’t read many gothics.
Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian
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