This haunting novel made me happy to have grown up in the 1970’s and 80’s as a young woman though that time wasn’t particularly idyllic either. Disclafani tells the story of Thea Atwell, who has been sent away from her home in rural Florida due to a misdeed (that at first is unnamed and only hinted at). It’s 1930 and Thea is sent to a riding camp/school for girls in the hills of North Carolina and though she thinks it is just for the summer, her exile ends up being more permanent. Thea is heartbroken and misses her family, twin brother, and horse though she soon seeks solace by riding regularly in her new home. As the novel unfolds, we learn more of what led Thea to be sent away and Thea struggles to not repeat her “mistakes.”
The setting feels claustrophobic and Thea is almost frustratingly real—a bundle of raw feelings, desires, and guilt. Set against the tumultuous beginning of the Great Depression, this story stayed with me for days after I finished it—again making me happy to have come of age in a more empowered time for women and happy that other things defined my teen years besides being made an object of beauty.