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Jul 15, 2014miaone rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I love this book and re-read it every couple of years. What pulls me in is the believability of it; when I was reading it the first time it was just a few months after 9/11, and I was in northern California, near the forests. Also, there was electricity failure in rolling blackouts caused by bad management of Pacific Gas & Electric. The two events, with their ongoing results, made for an emotionally realistic background for absorbing Hegland's story. As the girls' situation becomes increasingly dangerous and desperate, still there are small and large causes for one or the other of them to feel joy. But the reader can feel the center breaking ever farther and can't help but ask herself, "How would I cope in a similar circumstance?"