Thanks so much to NetGalley, Little, Brown & Company, and Maude Julien for the opportunity to read and review this book.
It's always tough to review a memoir filled with such horrid child abuse. And this story defies belief in what parents can do to their children.
The horror begins when Maude's father contracts with a poor family to basically raise one of their daughters in exchange for them never contacting the daughter again. Her father, Louis, was 34 at the time and her mother, Jeannine, was 6. He gave her the best boarding school education and then brought her back to give birth to their daughter, who they would raise to be a super human.
The tortures that Maude was subjected to in order to make her the perfect human were unbelievable - hard labor, locked in a dark cellar, never going out of the house, insane studying and musical practice lessons - it just goes on and on. Her mother was just as controlled by her father but she never displayed any caring for her child. That she couldn't stop any of the abuse of Maude is a sin in itself. Somehow, Maude built enough walls in her head that she was able to come out on the other side of this evil world she was raised in.
I would have loved a bit more explanation about her life once she escaped - it went very suddenly to life afterwards without much in between. Although I'm sure she is very protective of her privacy.
Hard to read but an amazing memoir.
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