This story. I’m still collecting my thoughts about it. I’m not sure what to take away from it. All I know for sure right now is that it was devastating. At surface level, it’s a story about a daughter who is forced to grow up too quickly and bear witness to the atrocities of abuse, poverty, and what it takes to survive in a world that doesn’t care. It goes so much deeper than that, though. 

Barnhill spins an old classic and weaves it into a new tale from a different perspective. As painful as this book was to read at times (it’s so, so hard to watch those we love be abused and utterly oblivious to how life could be better), I couldn’t put it down until the very end. And what an end - satisfying, and somewhat bitter.