Just a girl. The only one strong enough to break the cycle.
In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a "nothing mama", she struggles to find a place where she really belongs.
For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key that unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to break her family's longstanding cycle of madness and abuse.
Through it all, Millie experiences the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can Millie finally make her way into the free?
Saturated in Southern ambiance and written in the vein of other Southern literary bestsellers like The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin, Julie Cantrell has created a story that will sweet you away long after the novel ends. ~ Amazon.com
As I was reading through some reviews on Amazon this statement caught my attention, and I couldn't agree more!
"...Julie Cantrell's nearly poetic prose painted a picture that engaged all of my senses and emotions and drew me in from the first pages."
Into the Free is poetic and imaginative for sure! I was so thrilled to see that I had the opportunity of getting hold of a free Kindle copy. (Later when I checked it wasn't free anymore :( It is still very affordable indeed! Check it out!
Cantrell makes you see Millie's world through the eyes of a little girl - the story starts out when she is about 9 - and then through the eyes of a young woman of 16, going on 17. Millie is an old soul. And this story is mostly a very sad one. Although beautifully and creatively written, it was also very heartbreaking and tragic. I was eventually in tears and feeling so hopeless.
Millie's story is one of tremendous courage and strength. How the hell she survived her childhood is described in one concept ~ the grace of God ~ and yet she struggles with the question of God's existence right throughout the book. It is almost near the end that she starts to realize - in a quiet, broken, lonely and dark moment - that maybe He's been there all along; that things could have worked out even worse, but that somehow there's always been an "angel" watching over her, encouraging her that it was not yet her time to go.
I admire her strength to try and find the good in everybody despite all that she's had to endure through the years; to try and understand the reasons why people were the way they were, and made the choices they made, and to finally let it go so she herself may live.
Bump - a young cowboy that really meets her in one of the worst places of her life - eventually becomes a bit of my hero. "There's nothing in the world like having someone love you for who you really are. Looking at your heavy baggage and leaning down to whisper in your ear, 'You're perfect.'"
Even though right at the end it would seem Millie finds s trickle of hope, she still has a long way to go (considering all that happened, even up to the very day before the trickle).
Personally this book was a heavy, emotional read. I suppose what kept me reading was my deep desire that things would finally turn around for Millie. I enjoy analyzing and trying to understand people, but my heart just kept breaking for the poor girl who have lived the trials of a forty year old woman, yet hasn't even been properly introduced to adulthood.
It is not a book that I would read every day, but definitely a beautiful writing that I would recommend to anyone; definitely a book for the ladies, I'd say.
I understand that there is going to be sequel to this book. I can't wait! Perhaps we can find Millie finding peace and victory beyond the challenges of her past. I just love happy endings, don't you? ;)
By the way: I just loved the extra bits at the back with questions to ponder and discussions for book club readers. Pity I can't touch on any of that without giving too much away. You'll just have to read this one for yourself.
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