Review: Girl in the Glass
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 14, 2012
I am Anya and I am nothing.Occasionally a novel comes along that engages both your intellect and emotions. Those are the stories that captivate and haunt the reader with the beauty of the writing and the wonder of the story. "Girl in the Glass" does all of those things. It held me spellbound in my chair unable to put it aside.Anya is a young pubescent girl who, along with her sister The Shadow, lives with her paternal aunt after the death of both of her parents. She is, however, unwelcome. Both for her temper and her looks. For Anya has the misfortune to look like her beautiful mother, a woman resented by the aunt. Taken out of school, relocated to her father's former childhood home, Anya is constantly put in a position to fail. She must fail so her aunt will have reason and leave to punish her. As Anya grows in beauty her aunt's hatred grows exponentially. The punishments increase over time to become life threatening. Anya, her sister and the housekeeper know it is only a matter of time before Anya is killed.On the eve of a marriage arranged for her by the family for a crime she didn't commit Anya and her sister Eve know that Anya's fate is sealed. Her life will only become worse if the marriage ceremony occurs. They decide to leave and take their chances crossing the desert to return to the city of their birth. Undertaking the crossing alone with little food or water they make the crossing by sheer will and grit.In the desert world they live in, the only "rights" women have it the right to be responsible for everything. If they are attacked it is their fault, if a man wants them inappropriately it the fault of the woman. Anya and her sister are at risk of their very lives if they are found. Changing their names, hiding in the ruins they find work and begin to build new lives.But Anya, as beautiful as she is, does not find a handsome prince. She finds hardship and abuse are not left behind her. Somehow she must manage to overcome her past, secure her future and take care of her sister.This novel haunts the soul in its depiction of women who are marginalized by a society that considers them of little value. But it is also heartwarming as it leads us through Anya's life as she fights for her freedom and education. Like the flower that grows in the cracks of a sidewalk even the abused, mistreated and unwanted find a way to thrive.Karen Bryant Doering,Parents' Little Black Book