Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell

I didn’t think I wanted to read Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell. Turns out I was wrong.  Not only did I read it, I really enjoyed it. It’s about two girls who were kidnapped and their lives 20 years later. Kidnapping tales aren’t really my thing because of the hundreds of troubling images that come to mind, but Pretty Is is different. Nothing bad really happens to the girls, I mean, aside from the obvious trauma of being kidnapped.

Remember Me Like This by Bret Anthony Johnston

I don’t normally read novels about missing children. As a mother, it is territory I don’t want to visit. But there was something about Remember Me Like This by Bret Anthony Johnston that made me want to pick it up. Maybe it was because most of the book has to do with life after the missing boy returns home. Whatever it was, Remember Me Like This is a compelling and page turning read that delves into ever shifting family dynamics.

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay

An Untamed State by Roxane Gay should be issued with a warning. It is a deeply troubling and powerfully written novel. It recounts the tale of Miri’s kidnapping and captivity while she is visiting her parents in Haiti with her husband and son, and her attempt to return to a normal American life afterwards. It is utterly heartbreaking, not least because much of it is written in the first person and feels like a memoir, not a novel.