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Only Girl in the World: A Memoir
Only Girl in the World: A Memoir | Maude Julien
For readers of Room and The Glass Castle, a memoir to be read in one breathless sitting that will leave you astonished by the courage and creative power of even the most neglected soul. Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor - raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." Maude learned to hold an electric fence for minutes without flinching, and to sit perfectly still in a rat-infested cellar all night long (her mother sewed bells onto her clothes that would give her away if she moved). She endured a life without heat, hot water, adequate food, friendship, or any kind of affectionate treatment. But Maude's parents could not rule her inner life. Befriending the animals on the lonely estate as well as the characters in the novels she read in secret, young Maude nurtured in herself the compassion and love that her parents forbid as weak. And when, after more than a decade, an outsider managed to penetrate her family's paranoid world, Maude seized her opportunity. By turns horrifying and magical, The Only Girl in the World is a story that will grip you from the first page and leave you spellbound, a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape.
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Crazycatlady1
Pickpick

If you want a book that will grip you from the first sentence to the last, this is the book for you. Maude, is an innocent child at the hands of two mentally unstable people. The abuse she endures and the losses she overcomes are both inspiring and heartbreaking. I really recommend this one.

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Expandingbookshelf
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Mehso-so

Maude‘s childhood was grim as her father attempted to mold her into the perfect “super-human” by making her hold an electric fence without flinching, locking her in the cellar at night, and making her bury her only friend, her dog. Somehow she managed to escape. This is a harrowing account of her childhood, but it abruptly ends as Maud makes her escape. I wanted more. This was a good book, but I feel like it ended way too soon.

7 likes1 stack add
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peacegypsy
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Pickpick

A heartbreaking, unbelievable memoir of many beyond horrific events. Thankfully, it is also a tale of the redemptive power of literature.

35 likes1 stack add
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francescareads
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Listening to this.

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Readaholics
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Pickpick

Wow! What a story of resiliency for Maude who shares her harrowing tale of growing up isolated in the french countryside with her delusional parents. She endured many cruel “test” derived from her father‘s paranoid POV. A true triumph of spirit story.

Cortg Sounds good! 6y
62 likes4 stack adds1 comment
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Suet624
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A messed up memoir of isolation, brutality, and crazy parents. It‘s too much for me.

tpixie Hugs 🤗 6y
Suet624 @tpixie 💕💕 6y
huntersmom1977 Awww. Yea I understand how you feel. Reliving horrors from survivors point of view for the reader, can be just as horrifying . I‘ve read a few in the past. ❤️ 6y
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LeahBergen 😬😬 6y
Suet624 @huntersmom1977 I think I‘ve read too many of them recently. I am so mad at parents who isolate their children and do social experiments on them. 6y
huntersmom1977 I totally agree with you! No excuse 😔 6y
56 likes6 comments
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Reviewsbylola
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Today‘s library haul. The top two books were impulse grabs that I‘ve never seen before. They sound good though! The bottom right was my hold—I‘m curious to see if it‘s fantastic like her first book or a run of the mill thriller like her second. The other two are for my girls. I‘m hoping the sports book will pacify G until the new Rebel Girls book gets here. #libraryhaul

swishandflick I didn't think Let Me Lie was run of the mill at all, so good! Hope you love it too! 6y
Reviewsbylola @swishandflick what did you think of 6y
swishandflick @Reviewsbylola I liked it, but not as much as I Let You Go. I think for me, the creep factor for I See You was high when I was reading it on the subway and realizing how many habits I have during my commute routine. Makes you think about how you really don't know if there are people noticing you standing in the same spot around the same time every day, haha. But on the whole it felt more like a typical thriller, so the twists didn't shock me. (edited) 6y
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Reviewsbylola I think reading it on the subway would definitely add to the creep factor! I liked it but had it been the first book of Makintosh‘s I read, I‘m not sure I would have read more of her books. @swishandflick 6y
emilyhaldi 😄😄😄 6y
Cinfhen You got the new Mackintosh ~ share your thoughts!!! 6y
125 likes6 comments
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ElleSkel
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“Three years later, age 59, Louis Didier liquidated his assets, bought a house near Cassel, between Lille and Dunkirk, and withdrew to live there with Janine in order to devote himself entirely to carrying out the project he devised back in 1936: to make his child a super human being. That child was me.”
This is a memoir.
How can I possibly read anything else now??? Looks like it‘s going to be a long night! #CrushngMyTBRList

Kaye Love your freckles. I had them as a kid and wish I still did. I think they‘re cute. Makes a person look younger. I figure if I had freckles, I could pass for 55 easy. 😁 6y
ElleSkel Thanks! @Kaye It took me about 30 years to own them. Now I wear them proudly! I call them my Morgan Freemans. 😆😆 I don‘t think they are helping me look any younger though! 6y
Kaye Yea, see there ? Morgan Freeman is quite a handsome fellow. His freckles give him added character. Be proud . Just think of a plain cupcake with frosting. Toss on some sprinkles and it looks so much more festive. 👍. Pardon the cake reference, but I have a strange fascination with 🎂 🎂 cake. 6y
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ElleSkel @Kaye mmmm 🍰 🎂 6y
AmyG Sprinkles make everything better. @Kaye @Elle_Skeldon And this book looks wild. 6y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks You‘re such a cutie pie!!! ☺️💕🤗 And I love Morgan 👏🏻👏🏻 6y
CouronneDhiver Your freckles are so pretty! 🙂 Totally jealous 6y
ElleSkel Thanks @CouronneDhiver ! That‘s so sweet! ☺️ 6y
47 likes4 stack adds9 comments
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Rcoco
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Mehso-so

Fascinating...but strangely told. Maybe it‘s a coping mechanism on the author‘s part but her narration was oddly distant. Curious what others think.

wkm306 Had a very similar feeling. Not a good writer. Never thought it'd be a coping mechanism. 3y
31 likes1 comment
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Rcoco
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How can these moments be recollected so clearly and accurately? Does anyone doubt them? She is a child young as four when the narrative begins.

tapgurl I definitely believed it. I can can remember significant things from when I was 4. Plus it continues on into her later years. Devastating childhood:( 5y
wkm306 I had doubts from the first page. 3y
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alli_spin
Pickpick

“As a little girl, I used to make a promise to myself and seal it with a prayer: ‘If I ever get out, I‘ll be in awe of everything I see. I pray that my father‘s voice will stay shut away in this house and won‘t follow me everywhere I go.‘”

Incredible read. A truly harrowing and heartbreaking story, at times very difficult to read, but ultimately so inspiring. The first-person present narration made it an unusual memoir reading experience.

Rcoco Reading this now 😲😵 6y
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alli_spin
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😠✊🏼

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alli_spin
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Alright. Let‘s finish this 😶

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Lauren_reading
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Just read this article about the author on npr - it looks so sad but so good. https://www.npr.org/2017/12/09/569241086/a-fathers-cruel-mission-to-create-the-o...

Bookmarkie I just got approved for an arc of this book. So excited! 6y
47 likes9 stack adds1 comment