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Burn Our Bodies Down

Audiobook
5 of 5 copies available
5 of 5 copies available

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Wilder Girls comes a new twisty thriller about a girl whose past has always been a mystery—until she decides to return to her mother's hometown ... where history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Ever since Margot was born, it's been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot's questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that's not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it's not what she bargained for.

Margot's mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what's still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there's poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she's there, she might never escape.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from May 25, 2020
      For Margot Nielsen, 17, it’s always just been her and her mother, Jo. Nearly identical down to the gray streaks in their hair, the two share a cramped one-bedroom apartment. Margot’s mother insists that she follow very specific rules: keeping a candle lit, and never asking about her father or her mother’s family. After a fight with Jo, Margot heads to the pawn shop to repurchase one of her mother’s trinkets as a means to apologize; there,
      she finds her
      mother’s childhood Bible and, tucked inside, a photo of a woman who looks remarkably similar to both her and her mother, with a phone number scrawled on the back. Armed with this information, Margot runs away to find her grandmother, Vera, at a farm called Fairhaven. Once there, Margot begins to uncover deep family secrets and realizes that Jo may have had good reason for her strange behavior. Power (Wilder Girls) creates a vivid world with a gothic horror–like setting, where mutant corn stalks produce double helix cobs with pink flesh and where grandmothers are not exactly what they seem. Through Margot, Jo, and Vera, Powers examines the sometimes claustrophobic relationships of mothers and daughters with a genre twist that makes for a riveting, often frightening read. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kimberly Witherspoon and Jessica Mileo, InkWell Management.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Suffocating generational trauma gets a speculative twist in this eerie YA tale narrated by Lauren Ezzo. Ezzo ably portrays the pent-up emotions of Margot, who's been kept in isolation by her volatile, inscrutable mother. After discovering the grandmother she's never met, Margot runs away to join her at the fire-stricken family homestead, where the burning apricot groves yield uncanny fruit: the body of a girl who looks exactly like Margot. Ezzo leans into the story's slow-burning pace, suffusing Margot's low voice with longing for familial love (no matter how toxic) and for the truth that eludes her right up until the gruesome conclusion. Ideal for horror listeners who prefer mystery and creeping dread over straight-up scares. R.A.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:620
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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