When a family camping trip takes a dark turn, how far will one mother go to keep her family safe?
Struggling with working-mother guilt, Marlene Greene hopes a camping trip in the forest will provide quality time with her three young children-until they see fires in the distance, columns of smoke distorting the sweeping view. Overnight, all communication with the outside world is lost.
Knowing something terrible has happened, Marlene suspects that the isolation of the remote campsite is all that's protecting her family. But the arrival of a lost boy reveals they are not alone in the woods, and as the unfolding disaster ravages the land, more youngsters seek refuge under her wing. The lives of her own children aren't the only ones at stake.
When their sanctuary is threatened, Marlene faces the mother of all dilemmas: Should she save her own kids or try to save them all?
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[Crouched in the lea of an ancient oak tree, the safest place I could find on the sparse margins of the forest, I hid from my own children.]***
(Lake Union Publishing, 1 September 2017, Kindle First)
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I absolutely loved this book.
I love post-apocalyptic fiction and thought the storyline offered in All the Little Children was one of the most original ones I've read in a while, nary a zombie in sight. Hats off to the author for bringing something fresh to the genre.
I thought the characters were all great, well written, very real and sympathetic. Joni and Marlene are not perfect and far from heroines but they are trying to do their best in unfathomable circumstances. I could easily relate to them.
For some reason, parts of this book reminded me of Lord of the Flies especially when Marlene and Joni finds the wild children.
I enjoyed every page of this book, as Marlene and Joni try to keep themselves and their children safe in an increasingly dark world.
All the Little Children has a good ending. Not every loose end is tied up and things are left open but I enjoyed this all the same.
