Amy Jo Burns makes vivid the confines of small town life. That the choices involved in defining a girl’s own self will have consequences in her treatment by the town—long after she should have outgrown any labels.
When the town’s piano teacher is accused of molesting his students, she’s perceptive enough to know that the girls who come forward will be branded and ostracized. She says, “In a small town, innocence can never be overrated. Innocence is a small town girl’s currency. It’s better not to know what you don’t know and to un-know what you already do.”
But her own choice of staying quiet burns her up on the inside.
Amy Jo Burns is observant and self reflective without being self-centered. Her writing is fluid and beautiful while being as real as it gets.
Narrator, Jorjeanna Marie gives such an unaffected performance that there is no divide between story and reader. It sounds like she’s telling her own secrets.
This book deserves to be heard.