I liked this book. I really liked this book. I found this one at a Borders Books sometime last year on the table where if you bought one, the other was 50% off. This was my 50% off and I am genuinely sorry that I waited so long to read this story! It was touching and at times, heart breaking. You will fall in love with Truly, a woman with a heart to match the size of her body, enormous, or as her teacher once told her, “giant”.
Truly enters the world in a precarious situation as her birth kills her mother. Left with her father and her sister, Serena Jane, for the first 12 years of her life, Truly is raised by her father, to the best of his abilities. Truly is born large and continues to grow uncontrollably as the result of a pituitary gland problem. Her sister, Serena Jane, is everything that Truly is not. She’s petite, beautiful and garners a lot of attention from other adults, especially women. After the passing of their father, Serena Jane is taken in by a family of upper class in Aberdeen. Truly is sent to live with the Dyersons on the outskirts of town at their farm. She wears boy clothes and outgrows them weekly. She stops attending school for a time period and helps with chores on the farm in the barn. She quickly forms a friendship with the Dyerson’s daughter, Amelia, a social outcast who stutters and has difficulty talking.
As Truly grows up she will come to live with Dr. Robert Morgan, her sister’s husband, and their son Bobby. Living with the Morgan’s Truly discovers a secret within the house, the combinations Tabitha Dyerson used long ago to treat the ill. She was suspected to be a witch and Truly begins to conjure up many of the mixtures to help ailing citizens of Abderdeen.
Without giving too much of this story away, I would suggest this book for an individual read or a book club read. In fact, my copy had several questions in the back that could be used for a fantastic book club discussion. So much emotion comes out in this story as Truly is constantly ridiculed and teased about her size, yet she outlives most of the characters in the story and does so in a proud manner. You will love Truly and you will wish you could be her friend!
Furthermore, you will wish for a sequel!
Hi Mrs. Weckstein! I just found this blog. I had no idea you loved books this much. I love books like this too. Might I suggest a read? It's part of a 7 book series (all close to 1,000 pages) soon to be 9 books, so enter at your own risk! The first book is called Outlander. At first, it was categorized as a romance, but it's really not. As the author has said "it's the story of a marriage" and not a courtship. Her website is www.dianagabaldon.com if you want to check her out. If you have already heard of this, then I'll shush up!
ReplyDeleteEmma's mom.