What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
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People Might Hear You
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. Dark novel (possibly YA) about abuse from a religious father figure. [s]
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@RaimbowheartYES! THAT'S IT!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Awesome, glad that was the right one!
Sorry for the vagueness.
Book was read more than 10 years ago. Maybe more than 15 years ago. It was pretty dark thematically, tackling real topics like abuse. It may be a YA novel but my gut says it's not.
The plot that I can recall centers around a girl (maybe a young teenager) who's mother (aunt?) gets together with a religious man who goes on to abuse her (it's a bit cult-like if I recall). The man has kids of his own (or under his care).
The protagonist has curly or unruly hair, at some point she cuts it short over a sink (and she's very proud of being tidy and cleaning up the mess) only to be physically punished by the man for doing so.
At some point she runs away to a neighbor. The man gets her back by lying to the neighbor (saying that she's just sick or something). He strokes her hair and it's creepy, and calls her by a different name (Romana maybe?).
I also recall that the protagonist scratched away at her window so she could see through and look at the stars.
Spoilers:
At the end, the protagonist escapes with another girl from the household.
Again, I'm sorry for the vagueness. That's about all I can remember.
Any ideas?