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Lilly wasn’t merely apprehensive about her first appointment with the therapist; she dreaded it. As a mother of a three-year-old boy, she knew perfection wasn’t a necessity. However, she also knew the only way forward was to face her past. Lilly was the third of four children born to Gwen and Vincent. Gwen and Vincent doted on young Lilly, but Gwen’s sister Millie fawned over Lilly and wished she was hers. Millie’s husband, Frank, took a shine to Lilly as well, but his intentions were sinister. As Lilly got older, she came to fear Frank and loathed when Frank and Millie were welcomed into her parent’s home. Lilly didn’t tell her parents but confided in a select few as she began a rebellion that lasted from adolescence through college.
The subject of abuse is reflected on by Lilly as she recounts each excruciating detail to her therapist. The idea of lost innocence is one of the key themes explored as Frank’s exploitation of Lilly begins in her infancy and continues throughout her formative years. Lilly has been weighed down by guilt since she was a child for an adult’s depraved actions, and her purging of her past to her therapist gives the narrative its most poignant moments. As the protagonist, Lilly is providing a voice not only for her but also for many of those who have been silenced by the heavy burden of emotional and physical abuse. This is an emotionally riveting autobiographical novel, but it also serves as an empathetic appeal to those waiting to liberate themselves from their pain once and for all.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review