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Little Girl Gone

by Drusilla Campbell (Goodreads Author)

3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 · rating details · 502 ratings · 111 reviews

Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sens...more

Paperback, 299 pages

Published January 31st 2012 by Grand Central Publishing

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Feb 26, 2013 jimtown rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, orphan

This is an intelligent book on a difficult, almost creepy subject. Madora finds herself headed for trouble at seventeen. She feels she has been unlucky. While at a party with her best friend, Kay-Kay, Madora tries some crank. It could have killed her but she is rescued by a handsome stranger who whisks her away to safety. Or that’s what he tells her.

For five years, Madora goes along, believing everything Willis tells her without question. She believes he will become a doctor and someday they’ll...more

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Jun 26, 2012 Louise rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, literature-fiction

Grand Central Publishing|January 31, 2012|Trade Paperback

Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sense of right and wrong. When a pit bull puppy named Foo brings into Ma...more Grand Central Publishing|January 31, 2012|Trade Paperback

Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sense of right and wrong. When a pit bull puppy named Foo brings into Madora’s world another unexpected person – Django Jones, a brilliant but troubled twelve-year-old boy – she’s forced to face the truth of what her life has become.

An intensely emotional and provocative story, LITTLE GIRL GONE explores the secret hopes and fears that drive good people to do dangerous things…and the courage it takes to make things right.

My Review:

Madora Wells, at twelve years of age loses her father. He walked into the desert one day and put a bullet in his brain. Yuma, Arizona is located on the flats with single-story buildings and a lot of heat and wind. Madora’s Mom, Rachel, told her that Yuma killed her father and was killing her too. Rachel, not dealing well with the loss of her husband soon forgot about Madora and stopped caring for her. Madora never really understood why and no one talked to her about it. This, of course, had huge repercussions on this youngsters developing mind.

Madora was failing in school, drinking and getting herself into the drug craze and at age seventeen tries the drug crank for the first time. Her: “…head exploded in white light and there was no yelling or talking, no music anywhere, just a burning pain as if her head were an egg and someone had thrown it against the wall.” She stumbled out onto a porch where she met Willis Brock who told her: “Willis won’t let anything bad happen to you.” This would be the beginning of five years of hell.

Madora, now twenty-two and Willis were living in the Laguna Mountains in Evers Canyon. The closest town was Arroyo and San Diego lay only 30 miles west of them. They had lived in their three bedroom house at the end of Rock Road for almost four years. Out back of the house was a run-down trailer where Willis kept a pregnant sixteen-year-old girl he had kidnapped and kept tied. Madora’s days were filled with cleaning the girl and feeding her while Willis worked as a health care provider and prior to that as a Medic in the Marine Corps which he figured gave him licence to deliver a baby. Wills wanted to attend medical school and was selling Linda’s baby to lawyer for $25,000 to help fund his education.

Django was a twelve-year-old boy who had just lost both his mother and father in a car accident. His father was a millionaire and one of the best known rock guitarists of all-time. They lived in a sprawling mansion in Beverly Hills. After their deaths, Django ended up living with his aunt, Robin Howard, who he’d never met and she’d never married and wasn’t used to children. She lived in Arroyo.

One day while riding his bicycle, Django comes upon Madora and Willis’s house and begins to visit Madora during the day while Willis is at work. Willis would have a fit if he knew that Madora allowed this young boy, or anyone else for that matter, to visit their home. She had to be extremely careful that no traces of the boy were left behind or that Linda didn’t tell Willis that Madora had company during the day.

Willis is a strange, strange man who closes himself off to the people closest to him but acts the part of an intelligent and friendly person during his work hours. Is he prone to extreme mood changes and one just never knows what exactly he is thinking. He is one sick individual. However, Madora puts up with him because she feels that was the price she paid for being loved and knowing that Willis would never leave her, she thought that he needed her as much as she needed him. Madora wasn’t the smartest bulb in the pack and Willis was able to manipulate her mind and get her to do anything he wanted. That is until Django happened upon the scene.

Django is an extremely intelligent boy who pours his heart and soul out to Madora but she thinks half the stories he tells herare bogus and a figment of his imagination. Well, she soon finds out that what Django presented himself as was completely true and the stories that he told her were also true.

This was a remarkable story and reads like a work of non-fiction. We’ve read so many news stories about the very issues presented in this book that you have to keep reminding yourself that the story is really fiction. Drusilla Campbell certainly knows her way around penning a dramatic page-turner. This is one novel you won’t want to miss reading!
(less)

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Feb 09, 2012 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Based on the news accounts of a girl held captive for years in a shed or trailer behind his house, bearing the child (ren?) of her captor. Madora, ddep into drugs after her father's suicide, was "rescued" by Willis, a wannabe doctor who was a home health care provider. Eventually they settled at the end of a remote road in Arizona where Madora was basically isolated. She rescued a baby pit bull who was her primary companion during the hours Willis was gone. When he brings Linda home and imprison...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Jodi rated it 4 of 5 stars

“Little Girl Lost” by Drusilla Campbell
Drusilla Campbell is a long time writer with several books in print. She is very talented in winding stories with strong women finding their voices and proves that she knows what she is doing with “Little Girl Lost.”
Seventeen-year-old Madora is on a downward spiral into drugs and alcohol after falling in with the wrong crowd. High and barely clinging to consciousness Madora is rescued by her knight in shining armour, Willis. Fast forward five years and Mado...more “Little Girl Lost” by Drusilla Campbell
Drusilla Campbell is a long time writer with several books in print. She is very talented in winding stories with strong women finding their voices and proves that she knows what she is doing with “Little Girl Lost.”
Seventeen-year-old Madora is on a downward spiral into drugs and alcohol after falling in with the wrong crowd. High and barely clinging to consciousness Madora is rescued by her knight in shining armour, Willis. Fast forward five years and Madora is now a young woman living an isolated life miles from the closest town of Arroyo, San Diego. Completely devoted to Willis her every waking moment is spent doing what pleases him. Willis is a demanding man with a checkered past. He presently is working as a home health care provider who begs, borrows, and steals to save enough money for medical school.
Willis abducts a young pregnant girl named Linda and imprisons her in an old trailer in the yard behind their ramshackle house. When Linda delivers her baby, Willis sells it to a lawyer for money to use toward his schooling. Madora begins to question her view of Willis and her life with him. In a chance meeting with a twelve-year-old boy named Django she finds a friend. Django has been orphaned recently and is living with his aunt Robin. Although she is worried Willis will find out about Django being around the trailer and finding out their secret, Madora and Django spend hours each day together. Django is intrigued by the odd Madora and her newly adopted pit-bull pup Foo. He tells Madora stories of his life with his famous parents and the wealthy lifestyle he had before coming to Arroyo.
Eventually Django helps Madora find enough courage to leave Willis and save Linda from captivity. The escape is interrupted by Willis and mayhem ensues causing Madora and Django to flee to San Diego.
“Little Girl Lost” is an enjoyable read that keeps you engaged in the story of Madora’s life and wishing she would find herself and break free.

(less)

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Jan 29, 2012 Mary Gramlich rated it 5 of 5 stars

LITTLE GIRL GONE by Drusilla Campbell
01/12 - Grand Central Publishing - Trade, 320 pages

Will we know when our salvation has arrived?

Medora Welles makes a number of life altering decisions one worse than the last. She finds herself at the age of 17 going with a man she thought was her salvation. Willis came to her in the darkest moment of her life and provided a light to freedom.

What Medora viewed as freedom was anything less than imprisonment but she never saw it as anything but a man loving her...more

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Jan 22, 2012 Marianne rated it 4 of 5 stars

From the back cover -

Medora was seventeen and heading for a load of trouble when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from friends and family, she ran away with him and for five years they lived alone in near isolation. When Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenage girl and imprisons her in a truck trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him, her fear of the world, and her sense of right and wrong. A pit bull named Foo brings Djano Jones a brilliant but troubled...more

From the back cover -

Medora was seventeen and heading for a load of trouble when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from friends and family, she ran away with him and for five years they lived alone in near isolation. When Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenage girl and imprisons her in a truck trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him, her fear of the world, and her sense of right and wrong. A pit bull named Foo brings Djano Jones a brilliant but troubled twelve-year-old boy, into Madora's life. As Django struggles to understand his place in the world, he helps Madora discover the personal and moral courage to free herself and the girl from Willis's control, and learn to stand on her own.

My Review

Drusilla Campbell, author also of the Good Sister brings to the reader a heart-wrenching story of troubled teens and tweens and a man who exploits them.

Told in the third person point of view, the story follows Medora as she is devastated by the suicide of her father, abandoned emotional by her mother, and accepted by her peers into a group of drugs and alcohol, and then by Willis. Druscilla explores the possibility of how a seventeen year old girl could be enthralled with an older man and fall prey to his control. The story is well told, describing so well the area where the old trailer was that when I went to Yuma after reading this book I wondered if I was looking at the canyon where Medora used to live. I not only felt the dust of the red soil as it covered everything, I also felt the anxiety of Medora as she faced her conscience, and Willis' anger. I saw the squalor of the place they called home, the loneliness as Medora sat on the rock, isolated from everyone else.

This is a very well written story I will not forget.

I received this Advanced Reader's Copy book free from the author, Drusilla Campbell for the purpose of review. She did not ask for a postive critique, just an honest one, which I have tried to do. The opinions stated in here, are my own. Thanks, Drusilla.(less)

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Jun 08, 2011 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this book was rather timely considering everything that has been going on with the Dugard Case. Whenever I hear of a couple taking part in a kidnapping I always wonder what goes through the mind of the woman involved? How does she reconcile her actions? For the most part, it seems pretty obvious what the man's intentions are. They usually suffer from some sort of mental illness and their actions are sexual in nature. The woman, however, may have no signs of a mental illness and it's no...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Cheryl "Mash" rated it 4 of 5 stars

LITTLE GIRL GONE by Drusilla Campbell
Published by Grand Central Publishing,
Division of The Hachette Book Group
ISBN-10: 0446535796
ISBN-13: 978-0446535793
At the request of The Hachette Book Group, a TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

Synopsis (from publisher): Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Lesley rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like "women's lit."

Recommended to Lesley by: I won it.

Shelves: first-reads

I'm afraid I can give this book only three stars, but I'll be the first to admit that it isn't the sort of book I normally read. I usually avoid "women's literature" and prefer books by male authors. However, having read Room by Emma Donoghue, I couldn't help comparing the intensity and imagination in Room, about a captive woman and her little son, with the plain writing in Little Girl Gone. Nothing grabbed me. The writing was competent but nothing I wouldn't expect from a good college student,...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Brenda Whitner rated it 4 of 5 stars

Madora is a young girl whose father committed suicide when she was younger. When that happened her life turned upside down. Her mother turned to the television and she turned to drugs and alcohol. One night Madora and her friend KayKay decide they are going to do this drug and Madora has a bad reaction to it and she is put outside to recuperate. This is when she meets Willis. She thinks he is her guardian angel. They date for some time. He will not have sex with her until she is eighteen, number...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Rimma rated it 4 of 5 stars

I won this book through Good Reads first read.

The story of a girl Madora 17, who got mixed up with drags and up on the bottom. She got saved by Will, he is her saver and hero and she wants nothing more than be with him and do everything that makes him happy. 5 Years Later she is leaving with him in isolated area, Will working at nursing home and does anything he can to collect money for medical school. And this include begging steeling and kidnapping pregnant young girl and selling her baby.
Mado...more

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May 22, 2012 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Little Girl Gone is my second Drusilla Campbell novel (The Good Sister being my first.) The novels share a theme - characters who would most likely be considered monsters in the "real world" and why they do what they do. Campbell does not excuse horrific actions, but gives the reader an insite into how a person can become someone who could commit such actions.

Madora, Willis, Django, Linda and Robin have faced circumstances that leave them damaged and that affect the rest of their lives tremendo...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-books-read

Madora Welles is seventeen and bent on living a wild, free life. She is still reeling after losing her father to suicide at the age of twelve.
Madora and her best friend, Kay Kay, attend a party at night that is rife with alcohol and drugs. Madora is given a puff of a new-to-her drug called crank and is immediately wiped out.
That is when her savior appears. Willis is a strong and calming influence and treats her with respect and Madora believes that he really loves her and can protect her.
Madora...more Madora Welles is seventeen and bent on living a wild, free life. She is still reeling after losing her father to suicide at the age of twelve.
Madora and her best friend, Kay Kay, attend a party at night that is rife with alcohol and drugs. Madora is given a puff of a new-to-her drug called crank and is immediately wiped out.
That is when her savior appears. Willis is a strong and calming influence and treats her with respect and Madora believes that he really loves her and can protect her.
Madora fights her mother about the relationship and finally ends up leaving to go live with Willis. They go to live an an old abandoned shack in the mountains. For a short time, Madora is a waitress at a local restaurant. After a period of time, Willis insists that Madora stay at home and take care of the house.
Madora adots and cars for stray animals, including a baby coyote and a Pit Bull puppy that she names Foo.
Willis is attempting to get into medical school to become a doctor. He works with teh elderly and does work in convalescent homes and also has private clients.
Willis brings home a girl, Linda, who is pregnant. He places this girl in an abandoned trailer on the lot and ties her to the bed. He has Madora feed and take care of her while he is working. Madora highly dislikes the girl, but takes care of her because that is what is expected.
We now meet Django Jones, who is suffering the loss of his parents in a sports car accident. His father was a well-known rock musician and Django has always had a life of luxury and the ability to have a lot of material possessions. He has been brought to live with his aunt, Robin, and Django and Madora connect at this point through Foo, the pet dog of Willis and Madora.
This book makes you understand the longings of lost souls and brings to light the manipulations of predators who prey on such individuals and the abilities they possess to brainwash them.
The fine line between Madora's reality and Django's reality is drawn and hard to cross. The real world is as far from Madora as we are from Pluto. Drusilla Campbell does a great job of drawing you into Madora's unreality. (less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Cynthia Conley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I finished reading Little Girl Gone yesterday and overall it was a good book. I think the story had a lot of depth and the characters were easy to follow. I think the writing could have been a little better...one pet peeve of mine is reading a book with short sentences. I almost felt like it was intended to be for a younger audience but yet I wouldn't want my 12-year old reading about kidnapping pregnant girls and keeping them hostage for months on end. I'm so glad that Madora finally 'grew up'...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Drusilla Campbell's best asset in writing books is the way she tells the story then wrapping loosely related story lines to one another. All of the characters intertwine and each is unique with different thoughts, pasts, and experiences. What ties all of the characters together, however, is their prisons, both physical and metaphorical. Also, each character believes a story told to them by one parent or another. Some of those stories empower the characters. Others sink into their cracks and weak...more

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Mar 01, 2012 J.N. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

This is a book I won from a giveaway (thank you!)Little Girl Gone is about a young woman named Madora who is helping her boyfriend keep a pregnant teenager kidnapped because she believes he has been her savior. Soon she meets a twelve-year-boy named Django who has just lost his famous parents in a car crash. The two develop a friendship after the boy comes looking for Madora's pit bull, Foo, after he witnesses her boyfriend neglecting him.

This is a book about what it's like for different people...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Tanya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Despite the creep factor of holding a pregnant girl hostage in the back of a semi-trailer in the back yard, this book was a quick, interesting read. Madora was just as much a victim/prisoner as Linda was, but she did not realize it. For me, the two characters who made the story were Django and Foo who both were loveable and played a huge part in Madora's rescue from Willis. I really appreciated the ending because it answered the lingering questions! I won this in an on-line contest and liked it...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Jamie Stanley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, first-reads-giveaway, goodreads-winner

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. Im so so so excited to receive this book. being an anmal lover, this book will ne perfect for me. Thank you so much!

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Mar 05, 2012 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle, 2012-book-releases, abuse, animals-dogs, book-club, books-i-own-read, challenges-2012, child-abduction, criminal-charges, death-parent, family-dysfunction, contemporary-fiction, psychological-thriller, suspense, women-of-mystery-club, women-s-fiction

Goodreads Description- Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sense of right and wrong. When a pit bull puppy named Foo brings into Madora's world another unexpected pe...more Goodreads Description- Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sense of right and wrong. When a pit bull puppy named Foo brings into Madora's world another unexpected person--Django Jones, a brilliant but troubled twelve-year-old boy--she's forced to face the truth of what her life has become.

An intensely emotional and provocative story, Little Girl Gone explores the secret hopes and fears that drive good people to do dangerous things . . . and the courage it takes to make things right.

Madora Welles is seventeen and bent on living a wild, free life. She is still reeling after losing her father to suicide at the age of twelve. Madora and her best friend, Kay Kay, attend a party at night that is rife with alcohol and drugs. Madora is given a puff of a new-to-her drug called crank and is immediately wiped out. That is when her savior appears. Willis is a strong and calming influence and treats her with respect and Madora believes that he really loves her and can protect her. Madora fights her mother about the relationship and finally ends up leaving to go live with Willis. They go to live an an old abandoned shack in the mountains. For a short time, Madora is a waitress at a local restaurant. After a period of time, Willis insists that Madora stay at home and take care of the house. At this point in the book, the reader truly feels Madora's lonliness. Her only companions are stray animals she has cared for, among them her favorite, Foo, an abandoned pit bull.

When Willis brings home a girl, Linda, who is pregnant. He places this girl in an abandoned trailer on the lot and ties her to the bed, the story takes a major turn. He has Madora feed and take care of her while he is working. Madora highly dislikes the girl, but takes care of her because that is what is expected. As the reader, I couldn't understand why Madora goes along with this crime. It made me wonder if she had some kind of mental defect or if she was just plain brainwashed by Willis, who she sees as her saviour and lifeline.

Then comes Django Jones, who is suffering the loss of his parents in a sports car accident. His father was a well-known rock musician and Django has always had a life of luxury. He has been brought to live with his aunt, Robin, and Django and Madora connect at this point through Foo, the pet dog of Willis and Madora. Django comes to understand what is going on in the trailer and house out in the desert mountains, and tries to find a way to help Madora. But Madora just can't think for herself. She has always been directed by Willis.

This book makes you understand the longings of lost souls and brings to light the manipulations of predators who prey on such individuals and the abilities they possess to brainwash them.
The fine line between Madora's reality and Django's reality is drawn and hard to cross. The real world is as far from Madora as we are from Pluto. Drusilla Campbell does a great job of drawing you into Madora's unreality.

I felt different feelings about the book depending on what I was reading. At some points I liked it and was fascinated by Madora's lack of reality but at other points I found myself skimming and not caring what was going on. I also am a reader that likes a concrete ending and this book didn't have it. When I finished it, I felt dissatisfied and confused as to exactly what the plotline was meant to "teach" the reader. I have loved Campbell's other books, but this one just fell pretty flat. It was just ok. 3 stars.(less)

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Feb 12, 2013 Amy Scissors rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2013

I read this almost immediately after reading another book by Campbell, "The Good Sister", and, where that book fell flat, this novel succeeds. Campbell introduces well written, if not totally likeable characters, and switches the perspective enough to keep the pacing swift. The novel moves quickly and I really liked the intersecting storylines. I was fascinated by the few pages told from Willis' perspective, he embodies a unique brand of crazy that is different than the usual captor-rapist role...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed how all of the characters intertwined. It's great within it's delusions a pit bull is brought in with the reader's delusions about this breed. You see yourself judging and wonder at the same time if you are correct in your assessment of the situation(s). Who is guilty and who isn't and how do you get into this situation? Owning a Pit bull it is all about upbringing and socialism, sort of the same as raising children and even looking at your own childhood and growing up; seeing who you...more

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Aug 01, 2012 Mo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

This book was OK. It was the story of a girl who believed herself saved by a man who in essence was really holding her prisoner. She did go willingly with him and she believed he loves her, but then he really kidnaps a girl and holds her hostage in a trailer. I wanted to read this because I thought it would be interesting to read a story from the perspective of a women who helps a men keep another woman hostage. However, the story didn't really get inside of such a woman. It was a cute story tho...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Bridget Sphung rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I really identified with this book which is why I really enjoyed it. This book was about the different ways people can feel imprisoned and the actions they take because of this. It also dealt frequently with the characters relationships with their parents - mainly with their absence in their lives. Drusilla Campbell did a wonderful job of helping the reader to understand why the characters did what they did. It was a very real story that could happen anytime or anywhere. This is the first book I...more

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Sep 23, 2012 Erica rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. The subject matter was very sad but the writing was excellent. Madora's character was so difficult for me... she was a total victim... victim of her upbringing, her circumstances and a victim of her lack of knowing anything about the real world around her. And Django touched my heart... such a horrific loss at such a young age. He and Madora's strength mesmerized me and I couldn't wait to reach the end to find out what would happen to them. The ending was a little bit...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Lorri rated it 3 of 5 stars

A quick and pleasant read, this book follows Madora from her teen years to her twenties when she finally comes face to face with what she is doing with her life, thanks to the help of Django. She thinks Willis is perfect and doesn't question him or anything he does until that time. Then she realizes that she has been fooling herself all that time living without her family and friends. Interesting characters, including a lovable pit bull. It also includes a reading group guide.

I was provided a co...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Carol rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, a-grown-up-book

Madora is in a drug-induced stupor when Willis finds her and becomes her rescuing guardian angel. Over the next few years Willis influences her life in more ways than anyone else could know. He treats her better than others around her and eventually he becomes the absolute center of her universe. She never questions Willis or his actions, just blindly does what he asks. Things change when he brings home a pregnant young girl and keeps her locked in a trailer behind their house. Madora starts to...more

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Feb 23, 2012 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars

When Madora meets Willis, she thinks he is her guardian angel. He saved her from a life of no hope, and 5 years later all she wants is a life with him. Willis is in training to be a doctor and is quite selfish, manipulating Madora into staying with him. Until she kidnaps a pregnant girl named Linda and imprisons her in the trailer behind the house. When Linda has her baby, Madora's world changes. When a boy named Django enters her world, and her love for Willis turns dangerous, she is forced to...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Brenda Rupp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Madora is the women captured/rescued by Willis barely a woman at 17. Into drugs and men, Willis rescues her. He brainwashes her constantly with the fact that he rescued her and saved her from herself.

Five years later he rescues a pregnant women and puts her in the trailer in the back yard. He has Madora so brainwashed she will even feed and wash the girl and take care of her baby until he takes it away! She is constantly making wrong decisions that will help Willis and not the girl in the trailo...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, fiction

Another book that I won in a firstreads giveaway here on goodreads earlier this year....This is the first book that I've read by Drusilla Campbell so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The book read to me like a combination of Room by Emma Donoghue (which I loved) and of the assorted Jodi Piccoult books that I've read. The book focuses on two main characters: Django and Madora. Madora is a twenty year old former wild child who was "rescued" by a domineering man, Willis, who isolated her from he...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Jaime (Twisting the Lens) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I won this book through GoodReads FirstReads.

This is one of those books that is so disturbing and creepy that you want to stop reading, because there are real stories like this. However, wanting to find out what happens will keep you reading until the end. Campbell does a good job trying to explain the motives and realities of each the character (mostly Madora). There are parts of the story that are hard to read because you really do not want to think about things, or understand things. Then, th...more

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About Drusilla Campbell

Drusilla Campbell lives in San Diego with her husband, the lawyer-poet-professor, Art Campbell, two rescued dogs and four horses. She was born in Melbourne, Australia and came to California when she was six years old. Before that she criss-crossed the United States by train and car with her brave and resourceful mother and mostly adorable baby brother. She had sailed the Pacific Ocean three times...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12142089-little-girl-gone?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327950373l/12142089.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12142089-little-girl-gone?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Little Girl Gone by Drusilla Campbell[/url]

Little Girl Gone

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