Ratings17
Average rating3.8
"At last, Helena Pelletier has the life she deserves. A loving husband, two beautiful daughters, a business that fills her days. Then she catches an emergency news announcement and realizes she was a fool to think she could ever leave her worst days behind her. Helena has a secret: she is the product of an abduction. Her mother was kidnapped as a teenager by her father and kept in a remote cabin in the marshlands of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No electricity, no heat, no running water, not a single human beyond the three of them. Helena, born two years after the abduction, loved her home in naturefishing, tracking, hunting. And despite her father's odd temperament and sometimes brutal behavior, she loved him, too . . . until she learned precisely how savage a person he could be. More than twenty years later, she has buried her past so soundly that even her husband doesn't know the truth. But now her father has killed two guards, escaped from prison, and disappeared into the marshland he knows better than anyone else in the world. The police commence a manhunt, but Helena knows they don't stand a chance. Knows that only one person has the skills to find the survivalist the world calls the Marsh Kingbecause only one person was ever trained by him: his daughter."--Amazon.com
Reviews with the most likes.
I know I didn't appreciate all aspects of this wonderfully written book. I was more interested in how the “family” ended up in the woods and how the women escaped, and the ending. I felt bogged down by all the hunting and foraging that was going on and so tended to skim over a lot of it. The emotions of Helena, the main character, were moving and spoke of the anguish and dependence and love of family. That was the most provocative for me.
Great book! The way the story is told grabbed my attention and I flew through the story. The first person account of the story by the girl who grew up the way she did was interesting and thought-provoking. Would be a great book for book club discussions!
Sooo atmospheric! You really feel like you are there and that the Upper Peninsula is different than other places in the world.
It also beautifully portrays the complex relationship between a child and a parent. We see how Helena struggled to connect to her mother as well as how she struggles to disconnect from her father.
And we get a suspensful chase as well! Wonderful story.