Friday, March 14, 2014

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani  400 pgs.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a provocative and at times disturbing novel set in the 1930's at the height of the Great Depression. It is the story of fifteen year old Theodora Atwell who is cast out of her Florida home for her mysterious role in a family tragedy and exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its strict environmentt ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is far removed from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm.

Told from the first person narrative, Thea’s background story is slowly (painfully) unveiled throughout the first half of the book.  Most will determine what must have happened in Thea’s past pretty quickly.  This mystery is drawn out for far too long through a narration that jumps back and forth between Thea’s memories of her childhood and her time at Yonahlossee,  leading up to the unraveling of her youth.


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