Welcome to Litsy!

I was lucky enough to go to Scotland for a couple of weeks. I picked up this amazing memoir and read it while traveling. The writing is so powerful that even though it is a tough subject, I could not put it down. It is one of the best pieces of writing I have read this year. 5 🌟 ##womensnonfictionprize

This book is a look at Fagan‘s brutal childhood in the foster care system in Scotland, filled with every horror that can be wreaked upon a child. This makes it a difficult read, of course, but it‘s very well done and vital for exposing the deep inadequacies in care systems and mental health care. A worthy presence on the #WPNF25 longlist.

This was such a sad book - so much more should have been done for Jenni, questions asked, support given. I listened to it and the narrator did a brilliant job of portraying the sadness but obvious childlike feelings of Jennis early years and then the anger and disillusionment that comes with her teen years. Amazing that she‘s been able to tell her story 🩷 #wpnf25

Running at full pelt across the farm field then climbing up onto the top of a hay bale. I feel strong and invincible and like the sky is blue because it loves me. When I get home I am going to read a book under my covers by glow-worm. The library van stops outside our caravan once a week. It is loaning me everything it has to read and the librarian is always so nice to me. I have found a way to escape my world every night.

Brutal. Upsetting. Anger-inducing.

Yes, clearly, it‘s an incredible difficult read, as the author grows up in the Scottish care system. It is beautifully lyrical in places but, maybe because of this dichotomy between the beauty and the horror, I felt a weird disconnect from the writing, like I was skimming the surface. Or maybe the author is distanced from her experience for her own safety / sanity. I‘d be interested to hear what others think.

So this book was suppose to come out last year and for some reason it never did. Rumor has it that it will later this year. I knew a few had to be out there and they finally found a copy. Wow 🤯, what a heartbreaking story. Jenny was the in the care system in Scotland for 16 years, with multiple name changes, abuse, moves, etc. and somehow she survived to become an artist, poet, and writer. It‘s a story of hope, even when it looks bleak.