The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie OakesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh boy, this was such a tough, but amazingly awesome read! One of the honor books for The Morris Award, I am reading this as part of The 2016 Hub Challenge. I could not put it down. Minnow Bly has a normal life until her father becomes enamored of The Prophet, Kevin, and her family becomes a part of The Community Cult that takes off for the wilderness and indoctrination begins-listen to the Prophet and do whatever he says. But the book does not begin with this; Minnow is in juvie, and Dr. Wilson, a forensic psychologist is trying to find out what happened the night The Community caught fire. As the reader wades into Minnow's life, we see she is inquisitive and her many questions are hated by those in the cult, especially The Prophet. Her father is a right hand man to the Prophet; he has 4-5 wives and 20 some children. Her mother is distant, bearing many children, and not stable at all. Minnow is very protective of her younger sister, Constance. As life continues in the cult, Minnow begins to see/understand the craziness and her growing friendship with an outsider (Rymanite), Jude, also adds another dimension to the tumult in confined Minnow's life. Author Stephanie Oakes does a superb job of blending Minnow's life in The Community, in prison and with Jude, creating a kalidescope of torture, hurt, and eventual release toward rediscovery. A must read!
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