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Everything is okay with both of us,” I said. “But you can’t speak to her. She’s busy. She’s working.” I think that the last 20% of the book was the best part because I could finally hear that heartbeat, which is what I missed the most. Chrissie is a killer that fact is stated up front, but as the story unfolds we begin to see the tragedy that led to this crime and no matter how unforgivable her actions are, the actions of the adults surrounding her are also unforgivable. I am not ashamed to say that I felt my heart break for little Chrissie even though she seemed to show almost no remorse for her crimes… read between the lines in this story it truly shattered me.
The First Day of Spring - The Gilmore Guide to Books The First Day of Spring - The Gilmore Guide to Books
In the kitchen Mam pulled my hair into tight plaits. Her fingers were rough and the pulling made it feel like my head skin was going to split, but I didn’t make a fuss because that would have made her pull harder. When she finished she put a hand on my head and whispered, “Father, protect me. God, keep me safe.” Her hand was cold and we smelled the same: flowers on top and dirt underneath. After the prayer she wiped her palm on her hip, like she was wiping me away. death of a child, attempted murder of one's own child, overdose, starvation, mental abuse, parental abuse, verbal abuse, and much more.
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A neglected girl commits an unspeakable crime and, as an adult, wonders if she can find redemption. Such a heartbreaking and powerful psychological drama that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend. Fifteen years later, Julia is trying to mother her five-year-old daughter, Molly. She is always worried - about affording food and school shoes, about what the other mothers think of her. Most of all she worries that the social services are about to take Molly away. No they won’t,” she said. She tried to pat my shoulder but I jerked away, so she patted the space where I wasn’t. “No more kids are going to get hurt. I promise.”
A Young Murderer Grows Up, and Has a Child of Her Own
Now she has a new secret. It gives her a fizzing, sherbet feeling in her belly. She doesn't get to feel power like this at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer.
Customer reviews
Told with compassion and sensitivity, this is a very dark psychological drama and an amazing debut novel. The author writes the voice and thoughts of an eight year old child so convincingly that she feels like a real child, one you want to take away from her awful home before it’s too late (although of course it already is). Julia is also a convincing character, so conflicted by her past, yet to come to terms with what she did and learn to forgive herself before she can make a fresh start with her child. Overall this is a deeply thoughtful and moving novel that I suspect I will think about for some time. We learn from the very first sentence that eight-year-old Chrissie is a murderer. You feel the rage as you read on and Chrissie's nonchalant attitude makes the reader hate her. The story builds from there and I realized she was unloved and uncared for by a mother that saw her as a burden and an absent abusive father. The question arises of nurture vs. nature.... years later, after spending time detained in a Secure Children’s Home, Chrissie is living with a new identity and calling herself Julia. She now has a daughter, Molly, but when she starts receiving phone calls that could reveal her past, her worst fears of having Molly taken away from her may be about to be realised, and she feels real fear - possibly for the first time in her life. This novel is about childhood neglect and the ramifications. A dark and totally heartbreaking story 💔
The First Day of Spring - Penguin Books UK
ABOUT 'THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING': Chrissie knows how to steal sweets from the shop without getting caught, the best hiding place for hide-and-seek, the perfect wall for handstands. She’s a painter,” I said. Mam cried out a big, loud wail. Ann raised her eyebrows. “Sometimes her paintings don’t go how she wants them to go,” I said. And it's time to face the truth: is forgiveness and redemption ever possible for someone who has killed? Adult Julia is a slave to routine, giving her and Molly's lives structure. But she lives with the guilt of what she did when she was Chrissie, and the fear that someone, one day, will take her own daughter away from her. After all, isn't that just what she deserves?
Nancy Tucker
Firstly my thanks to Lisa Jewell for recommending this book and to Selina Walker for sending me an ARC copy. Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South. Fast forward to another first day of spring, where we were introduced to the second narrator, an adult Chrissie, now twenty-five, with a young daughter of her own. She’s using the name Julia, to hide her identity, as Chrissie’s secret is no longer a secret. The public considers her a monster, a child killer – and so does Julia, as how can she not be, when she’s done such unforgivable things? She lives on tenterhooks that her daughter Molly, the person she loves most in the world, will be taken away from her, while deep down she knows she deserves to lose her daughter, that Molly would be better off without her. Then, the phone calls start. Someone has found her… again… A darkly dazzling debut, a harrowing story of neglect and cruelty written with a delicate touch and a big heart. As gripping as the tensest of thrillers and as moving and humane as the most intimate of memoirs, I loved this book." - Lisa Jewell, New York Times bestselling author of The Family Upstairs This book is so powerful and so disturbing that I will be thinking about it for months to come. Without a doubt this goes into my Top Ten Books of 2021 and you can buy it on publication day on 24th June 2021.
The First Day of Spring Download - OceanofPDF [PDF] [EPUB] The First Day of Spring Download - OceanofPDF
I listened to the Audiobook and I fully recommend you go this route if you enjoy audios. The narrator's tone and inflection and pauses are point on. She also feels insurmountable guilt at having a gorgeous, smart and lovely baby girl when she herself deprived parents from their child. Scott Shane's outstanding work Flee North tells the little-known tale of an unlikely partnership ... Well. I was there when they found him, which is almost as good,” I said. “I saw the man find him in the house and carry him down to his mammy. He was covered in blood. It was coming out of his mouth and ears and everywhere. His mammy was crying like this.” I howled and heaved like a dying fox to show her how Steven’s mammy had sounded. Her face went a bit gray. Hello, pet,” she said. “Christine’s a pretty name. My name’s Ann. Would you like to sit down while I have a little chat with your mammy?
Ann wrinkled her forehead and started to say, “Oh, I’m so—” but Mam interrupted. “You wanting to adopt a kid?” she asked. The beautiful woman nodded tightly while she took clean tissues from the box on Ann’s desk. Mam walked over very fast and pulled me up by the elbow so hard I spilled watery orange squash all over myself. She pushed me in front of her, toward the beautiful woman, and said, “This is Chrissie. She’s mine. But she’s being adopted. You can have her.” A darkly dazzling debut, a harrowing story of neglect and cruelty written with a delicate touch and a big heart. As gripping as the tensest of thrillers and as moving and humane as the most intimate of memoirs.' LISA JEWELL The other chapters are narrated by Julia, who now has a six-year-old Molly. Julia is grown-up Chrissie who had her named changed after her sentence for the murder. Chrissie went to a “home” for dangerous children, since prison is not place for an eight-year-old. Julia wants to be a good mother but doesn’t know how. She reads childrearing books and gets help from social workers. Her chapters, reflecting on her life, and her insecurities of being a mother, also brought tears to my eyes. Her adult guilt at what she did as an eight-year-old is crushing. Your mam was the one who was supposed to fill you up when you felt empty, but she had never done that for me. She had given me dregs and scrapings of warmth.’ Told in turn by 8 year old Chrissie, and 28 year old Julia, this is a stunning read. Though the subject matter is very dark and disturbing, there is also humour in the dialogue, as Chrissie is so outspoken with absolutely no filter, it makes no difference whether she’s talking to other kids or adults, they’re all treated with the same irreverence!
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