The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel is a dark novel set in a rural Kansas rich family.  This story tells the tale of why the lead character, Lane Roanoke, can't control her emotions, why her mother doesn't love her, and why her mother can never go home again.  The story begins with the suicide of Lane's mother, Camilla.  Lane is sent back to her grandparents to live.  The huge house seems strange and weirdly put together but her grandfather seems nice and her grandmother though more distant is so much better than her mother who was mean to her and occasionally tried to strangle her.  Allegra is mostly nice to her and the two become fast friends.  Allegra is the first person who Lane feels an attachment to and loves her as she might her own sister if she had a sister and Allegra loves her equally.  They fight like sisters would but by and large love and stand by each other.  Throughout the story this novel goes back in time to tell of their mother growing up in this house and the darkness of this rich family unfolds.  Yates, the grandfather, molests all the family members starting at about 14 years of age and like many molesters convinces the girl that she made to decision and that this was love.  When Lane returns to Roanoke she begins to understand the love that her mother had for her when she left and never returned. 

This is a difficult book to read.  It is well written in that it brings out many of the feelings of incest that the victim feels especially if the perpetrator is skilled in manipulation.  It also brings out many of the widely accepted feelings of the community especially if the child pervert is a rich well known person of good reputation.  It is easy to tell that this author has a good understanding of this subject and does a good job of taking the reader through the experience.  I will repeat this is a difficult book and subject to read but it is well written.  Read this book with caution.
I received this book from Blogging for books for this review.