A Tiny Piece of Blue by Charlotte Whitney

 

My thoughts

A very enduring story. This one captures a human's ability to learn how to give. How to be kind in the face of hardships. To be compassionate even when they fight it with all they have. To grow in ways they didn't think possible. 

This is the story of two high school girls who were left by their parents to do the best they can. I know the synopsis sets this one about one girl but it's about two actually. Sisters. The parents abandoned them after their house burned down. Their father took off to unknown places. Their mother too the two youngest, both boys, and told her oldest daughter that her and her young sister, Silly, would have to figure out a way to get by. A way to survive. Her two other daughters, twins, were left with an aunt. 

The youngest girl, Silstice Trayson, has always had it kind of hard. Being a middle child she was basically ignored by her parents. The parents both had problems with caring about their children. Their dad was abusive and drank. Their mother would hide in her bedroom if she was needed for anything concerning her children. She was about as useless as a mother can be. 

After the house fire Edna Goetz, the 4-H leader for girls in the area, wanted to take Silstice in and care for her. Her husband Vernon said a flat out no. He was not going to have it. He let her stay a night or two but then she had to get out. It was freezing cold but he didn't care. She was a thirteen year old child but he didn't care. Vernon was a bit on the stingy side and thought men superior to women. He was in charge of everything and barely allowed his wife money for things they needed to get by.

Edna was able to help Silstice though. Unbeknownst to her husband she had a little money she gave Silly so she could in turn give it to Vernon for room and board. Of course he snapped that right up. 

A lot goes on in this story and it was very well told. Very well written with the exception of some things being overtold. The prostitution ring parts for example. A couple of mentions would have been enough to get you where you needed to be before Vernon started helping. But it seemed to come every chapter if not sooner. Mentions from the sheriff that they were there but moved so they could not find them to take them out. Little young girls were kidnapped and sold into prostitution. Young boys too.

Silly and her sister Alberta were both doing all they could to keep a roof over their heads while worrying about their siblings. You get a good feel for what is going on with their brothers but not much about their sisters. A little bit though. These kids have been through so much and even the so called christians didn't offer any help. After all they were the trashy Traysons. I'll never understand how people claim to be christians and still turn their backs on children. But it happened then and it happens now...

This book takes you through quite a few things but it's very easy to follow. It's told from Sciltise, Edna and Vernon's POVs. Through a lot of ups and downs. I have to admit that Vernon did finally grow on me. The ending was great and shows you how much you better appreciate the people in your life before they leave you. Don't take them for granted. Don't treat people bad. Be kind...

Thank you #SheWritesPress, #NetGalley, for this ARC. 

About

For fans of Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds and Lisa Wingate’s Shelterwood comes a heartwarming historical novel following a homeless young girl as she struggles to survive during the Great Depression.

Rural Michigan, 1934. During the throes of the Great Depression, thirteen-year-old Silstice Trayson finds herself homeless, abandoned by her parents after a devastating house fire. Nearby, aging midwestern farmers Edna and Vernon Goetz are pillars of the community, but when do-gooder Edna takes up Silstice’s cause, Vernon digs in his heels, displaying his true nature as an ornery curmudgeon. 

Theirs is a quiet-seeming community, but danger lurks beneath the bucolic façade. With so many youngsters leaving home to make it on their own, child trafficking has grown rampant, and Silstice and her two spirited young brothers soon find themselves in the sights of a ring of kidnappers that’s exploiting local children into forced labor—and worse. Meanwhile Vernon finds himself at risk of losing everything.

Narrated by Silstice, Vernon, and Edna, A Tiny Piece of Blue sets the customs and traditions of rural Michigan against a backdrop of thievery, bribery, and child-trafficking—weaving a suspenseful yet tender tale that ultimately winds its way to a heartwarming conclusion.