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A review by shelf_love
The Marsh King's Daughter by Karen Dionne
4.0
A Penguin First to Read ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.
It was a good life. Until it wasn’t.
Helena is the daughter of a notorious child abductor who is dubbed The Marsh King. Two years into her mother’s captivity Helena is born, her mother wasn’t even seventeen.
The Marsh King taught his daughter everything he knew about hunting and tracking. Now Helena needs to use those skills to hunt him down.
I liked the struggle that Helena relays on her emotions around her father. Yes, to us he was a horrible monster and there were no buts on what we should feel, hate and disgust. On Helena’s part though, her life was very much normal. For 12 years she did not know any better. Her mother never told her and her father was her idol in the world that only consisted of the three of them and a couple National Geographic’s. It does not matter what Helena learned later, she will always love her father that she remembers as kind, the one that taught her all her life skills. She knows what he did was horrible, the kidnapping and abuse to herself and her mother, and she does hate those things about him but that doesn’t mean she cannot be conflicted at times.
It was a quick read but with difficult subject matter (rape, domestic abuse, child abuse).
It was a good life. Until it wasn’t.
Helena is the daughter of a notorious child abductor who is dubbed The Marsh King. Two years into her mother’s captivity Helena is born, her mother wasn’t even seventeen.
The Marsh King taught his daughter everything he knew about hunting and tracking. Now Helena needs to use those skills to hunt him down.
I liked the struggle that Helena relays on her emotions around her father. Yes, to us he was a horrible monster and there were no buts on what we should feel, hate and disgust. On Helena’s part though, her life was very much normal. For 12 years she did not know any better. Her mother never told her and her father was her idol in the world that only consisted of the three of them and a couple National Geographic’s. It does not matter what Helena learned later, she will always love her father that she remembers as kind, the one that taught her all her life skills. She knows what he did was horrible, the kidnapping and abuse to herself and her mother, and she does hate those things about him but that doesn’t mean she cannot be conflicted at times.
It was a quick read but with difficult subject matter (rape, domestic abuse, child abuse).