A girl emerges from the woods, starved, ill, and alone...and collapses.
Suzanne Blakemore hurtles along the Blue Ridge Parkway, away from her overscheduled and completely normal life, and encounters the girl. As Suzanne rushes her to the hospital, she never imagines how the encounter will change her-a change she both fears and desperately needs.
Suzanne has the perfect house, a successful husband, and a thriving family. But beneath the veneer of an ideal life, her daughter is rebelling, her son is withdrawing, her husband is oblivious to it all, and Suzanne is increasingly unsure of her place in the world. After her discovery of the ethereal sixteen-year-old who has never experienced civilization, Suzanne is compelled to invite Iris into her family's life and all its apparent privileges.
But Iris has independence, a love of solitude, and a discomfort with materialism that contrasts with everything the Blakemores stand for-qualities that awaken in Suzanne first a fascination, then a longing. Now Suzanne can't help but wonder: Is she destined to save Iris, or is Iris the one who will save her?
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[The girl knew before she opened her eyes that Mama was gone]***
(Lake Union Publishing, 1 January 2019, ebook, 347 pages, bought from Amazon, Amazon First Reads)
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This is my first time reading the author. I really enjoyed True Places. The book turned out to be even better than I expected it to be. I thought the characters were fantastic, wonderfully written so real. I really felt for Suzanne, who realises her life is lacking despite being a mother and having a husband who dotes on her. Iris offers her a chance to replace the missing pieces in her life. True Places gets pretty emotional towards the end as Suzanne discovers more about Iris's life in the woods. Suzanne's daughter Brynn stops being a brat. Suzanne finds a way to get what she wants from life and stop being the efficient zombie (her words) she's become. True Places tugged at my old heart-strings.
