Picking up the pieces

“Girl In Pieces” by Kathleen Glasgow is a story not easily forgotten. In this novel, a 17 year old girl named Charlie Davis believes she has little reason to live because her father drowned himself, her mother kicked her out, and her best friend is dead. In order to cope with all the pain and loss she has been through, she begins to commit self harm. She self harms so frequently that she is put into a rehabilitation center where she begins taking her first steps toward recovery. In the rehabilitation center, she begins to open up about her life experiences.

One day during group therapy, Charlie receives a phone call , supposedly from her mother. Charlie is taken aback as she never receives any phone calls and has not spoken to her mother since she was kicked out of her home. When she picks up the phone, she becomes even more alarmed when she learns that the person on the other line is Mikey, Charlie's crush. Her mind begins racing. She wants to know why he is calling her; she has not spoke to Mikey since she was put into a rehabilitation center. But, just as she poses this very question to Mikey, the call is disconnected.

After a while, everything seems to be on the right track until Charlie is told she is being released. She is scared. She is faced with living in the outside world, on her own, because her mother does not want anything to do with her. She must figure out a way to make it, but is she ready to let people back in?

Written by: Tori F.