child abuse and neglect – Reading While Fat

The House in the Cerulean Sea

I’m a little disappointed with myself for waiting so long to read the bestselling The House in the Cerulean Sea (2020) by T.J. Klune, which was everywhere since then and nominated for many fantasy awards, but I do have a bit of a contrarian in me and sometimes resist books that become very popular. IfContinue reading “The House in the Cerulean Sea”

Demon Copperhead

I don’t know if I can say anything about the 2023 Pulitzer-winning Demon Copperhead (2022) by Barbara Kingsolver that hasn’t already been written. Just Google it for several excellent reviews. It’s a modern retelling of David Copperfield by Dickens. Although I have been a Kingsolver fan for many, many years, I was a little apprehensive,Continue reading “Demon Copperhead”

When We Believed in Mermaids

In When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal (2019), we meet Kit, a Santa Cruz ER doctor, and travel with her to New Zealand to look for her presumed-dead sister, Josie, after catching a glimpse of her in a news story. Through flashbacks, we learn the sad history of the family, disintegrated by neglectfulContinue reading “When We Believed in Mermaids”