Bookworm

[#1]

by Tiffany Baker

As the mother’s pregnant body grew ever larger, the town began to wager on the size of the baby boy that would result. When the massive baby came, it was actually a girl, a little giant named Truly. After her mother dies from the difficult birth, her father falls into years of depression, blaming Truly for his plight.

Life would be a series of hardships and a bleak existence for the ever-growing child. After their father dies, her perfect china-doll sister, Serena Jane, is shipped off to a life of frilly dresses. Unwanted by Serena’s new guardian, the girls are separated, and Truly’s new home is a rundown farmhouse on the outskirts of town.  

Her appearance and size are due to a syndrome called acromegaly, in which the pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone. Her father, who felt the doctor had a role in his wife’s death, never has her diagnosed or treated, and her new guardians don’t have the money or the mindset to get Truly medical help. And so her plight continues with years of verbal taunting and abuse due to her gargantuan size.

Although Truly remains stoic over the years, the ridicule takes its toll on her. The first portion of the book focuses on the sisters' relationship. Truly later philosophizes about her beautiful sister, “The two of us were as opposite as sewage and spring water. Pretty can’t exist without ugly, I made my sister beautiful without even trying.”

But Serena’s beauty is also her curse. She becomes the obsession of classmate, Bob Bob Morgan, the youngest in a line of doctor’s in Aberdeen for generations. Bob Bob is one of Truly’s greatest tormentors, all the while wooing Serena. He ultimately marries her and they have a son. Shortly after, Serena flees town, leaving both her son and her loveless marriage.  In a strange twist of fate, the self-entitled Bob Bob insists Truly come to live with him, as maid, caretaker and surrogate mother to their son Bobbie.

Bobbie grows to love Truly, while the tyrannical Bob Bob spends his life criticizing and tormenting her for years. Her life takes a turn when she discovers a talent for healing through herbs and other holistic techniques. She learns of a family secret that changes the hand of power, and the lives of others in Aberdeen County.

By the bed:

An Unquiet Mind

Kay Refield Jamison 

[#2]

Wow!  This almost sounds like a Toni Morrison or Alice Walker novel -- full of beauty and terror, poetry and pain.  It sounds fascinating and disturbing -- all at the same time.  What is the setting for this?  Is Aberdeen County in Scotland, or is it meant to be in America?  Now I have another title for my never-ending list....

[#3]

Try Mother's Magic Wedding Veil by Lurline Marie McCall. Published by PublishAmerica,LLLP in 2009. Its a story about a young girl growing up, the trials and ups and downs of life. Very magical.