17-year-old Charlie wakes up in a treatment facility
wrapped in bandages - so traumatized, she can’t speak to anyone. Readers soon find out that when she was young, Charlie’s father
experienced depression and drowned himself; her mother beats her; her best
friend overdosed and was moved to a recovery facility across the country; and
she’s been living on the streets of Minneapolis with addicts and
criminals. Unable to cope with emotions
she doesn’t know how to express, Charlie cuts her arms, legs, and stomach. After a rocky start, Charlie follows a friend
to Arizona, finds work at a café, and returns to drawing portraits of people as
she observes them. Just when her life is
becoming stable, she falls in love with a junkie musician who inevitably drags
her back down into emotional chaos. Charlie finally gets assistance from a
co-worker recovering from drug addiction and from an artist who recognizes her talent. This story has several recovery stories going
at the same time – drugs, alcohol, self-harm – whose victims take each day as
it comes and count each one a victory.
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI
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