Story 4 of 5 stars
Heat 2 of 5 stars
Main character – Helena Pelletier
Listened to audio narrated well by Emily Rankin.
Helena Pelletier is a married mother of two little girls. She has tried to walk away from her past but when her father escapes prison, she will need all the skills he taught her to protect herself and her family.
Helena’s father kidnapped and raped her fourteen-year-old mother twenty years ago. She was raised in captivity in the marshlands, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Taught to hunt and track and revere Indian ways, she knew nothing about the horrors her mother endured. She loved her father, even when he put her in a well for misbehavior.
Dionne has Helena tell us her own story. We relive Helena’s thoughts and feelings as she tells her story of a daughter who loves a father, who is also a monster. As she tells the story of her father and how she came to realize the truth about him, she also looks at the person he shaped her to be. Weaving in past and present, making parallels with Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale – ‘The Marsh King’s Daughter,’ she was told as a child. Helena isn’t always likeable, she’s a complicated woman, with a complicated background.
I thought it was a very engaging read, with the right blend of graphic realism that felt authentic, while also conveying a child’s wonder of the world as taught by her father. I’m curious if the movie can do this book justice.
For more of my reviews follow my blog at https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/
If you prefer to listen to my reviews, you can find some of my reviews on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/wyldheart-reads
#wyldheartreads @wyldheartreads #romancereads #booksofinstagram #romancebooksofig #igreads #lovestory #bibliophile #bookstagram #romanceaddict
#TheMarshKingsDaughter #KarenDionne #EmilyRankin #audiobooks #thrillerreads #FictionReads
Wyldheart Reads 