The Abduction of Sarah Tarbell: As Her Soul Remembers by Stuart Ledwith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a beautifully laid out historical novel based around the life of 14 year old Sarah Tarbell and the trials she went through during it.

We start with a description of Sarah, her life, her home and her community. She is happy until one day when she is abducted with two of her brothers by a Mohawk raiding party.

It is this abduction which causes Sarah to question her life, beliefs and ties to others, as her world changes direction completely. As she is treated differently to her brothers, she realises how out of her depth she is and wonders why she is treated this way. She has to grow up quickly and create a place for herself in her new environment, but because of the changes within this environment, she has to adapt quickly. This leads onto the formation of relationships, a new routine and way of life, however, just as she is starting to form these, she is moved on again and the new trauma of this is just as bad, if not worse than the last in her eyes, but she doesn’t go without showing her maturity and her strength.

When she meets her final place, she has to again learn a new environment and routine, as well as adapt and accept the change again. She is helped this time by a familiar face and becomes someone of whom she can be proud of with the choices she makes. These choices lead her to a fulfillment of which she would never have believed possible or dreamed of in her original hometown.

It is an emotionally complex story of a young girl thrown into an adult world, without a clue what she should do. It is her journey of adaptation and acceptance without prejudice, of love, loss, friendship and rejection.

A book you will not be able to put down as you are drawn into learning about life and traditions in another time and place.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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