“Me & Emma” written by Elizabeth Flock is one of the those books you’ll think about for a long time!
It’s about 8 year old Carrie Parker and her 6 year old sister Emma. The two girls live in a small town in North Carolina (I think). Carrie, who is in many ways just an ordinary 8 year old with ordinary problems, also has to put up with an abusive stepfather and a mother, who is unable to protect her and her sister. So it is Carrie, who tries to shield her little sister. Still it is Emma, the more couragous of the two, who receives the greater share of their stepfather’s abusive behavior!
When her stepfather decides to move with the family to another town, where he has gotten a better job, Carrie and Emma run away. This plan fails and they are severely punished for it. In their new home a neighbour, who sees how they are treated at home, teaches the sisters to shoot, in order to protect themselves…
If you are curious to how the book ends, you’ll have to read if yourselves for I won’t tell you ;). Let’s just say, the ending is quite unexpected, but makes a lot of sense in hindsight and leaves you thinking for days on end! (though I started to suspect something of the kind somewhere in the middle 8-))
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