It's a story you won't be able to look away from. Kathleen Glasgow's debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge.Ī deeply moving portrait of a girl in a world that owes her nothing, and has taken so much, and the journey she undergoes to put herself back together. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.Įvery new scar hardens Charlie's heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much.

You don't have to think about your father and the river. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. At seventeen she's already lost more than most people do in a lifetime. You will be too.īeautifully written in short sharp episodes that keep you hanging on.Fans of Girl, Interrupted, Thirteen Reasons Why, and All the Bright Places will love this New York Times bestseller.Ī haunting, beautiful, and necessary book that will stay with you long after you've read the last page.-Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The 'sun Is Also a 'starĬharlotte Davis is in pieces. I wanted to care for her and for much of the novel I was totally apprehensive. She is vulnerable, she needs love and attention and she needs a massive break in life.Ĭan she get it or will her past come back to haunt her? read part 3 and find out. Part 2 of the novel takes Charlie out of her Minnesota environment to Tucson Arizona where she finds work at the bottom of the pile and starts to get herself together again. Yet strong friendship from those around her. Abusive mother, bullying at school, drugs, sleeping rough, brutal men, self loathing, worthlessness and extreme self harm. We learn of her journey to this crisis point in her life in part one of this novel and it doesn’t make for pleasant reading. She doesn’t speak, she has been living on the street and her body has been cut to ribbons. The book opens in a psychiatric centre for young girls who do the same as Charlie. She keeps a Tender Kit with her at all times – a box that enables her to cut herself and repair herself afterwards. Yes she cuts herself on the arms and legs and amazingly feels that she is in control of her body while she is doing this. Charlie thinks that nobody normal will love her.Ĭharlie has had a harrowing life and has NSSI or non suicidal self injuring. Kathleen Glasgow has done all of those things in this compelling young adult novel about 17 year old Charlotte (Charlie) Davis. If I had to give advice to a new writer I would say write what you know, write what you have experienced, write honestly about how you feel and write with a purpose.

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow