Review: Little Mercies - Heather Gudenkauf

 

Review: Little Mercies - Heather Gudenkauf - June 2014

Are you a fan of Jodi Picoult's novels ? Read Torey Hayden's true stories based on the children she has worked with ? Don't mind reading stories about child abuse etc ? If, not then check out Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf. This is one book that will make your eyes water and tear up as you read about some of the abuse that parents put their children through and then you may find yourself angry when parents aren't jailed for the abuse and killing of their children. This story we are introduced to Ellen who is a social worker for these cases and the story starts with the sad tale of Madalynn a four year old girl whose father killed her by chucking in onto the sidewalk. The story then fast-forwards to two incidents, the first is Ellen's case where she is called out on a job and rescues the two children, but what she forgets is her own child Avery is in the backseat of her car. Avery stops breathing and is rushed to the hospital and put in CCU. As Ellen is well aware and she is a social worker, thus begins the suspension of Ellen from her job and the start of an investigation in her own neglect of her daughter - if found guilty she can face jail time and never see her daughter again. As a social worker , Ellen never imagined that this could happen to her but now the tables are turned. The other story is about Jenny Briard , she is ten years old and lives with her dad, but when they are about to hop on the bus her father is stopped by the police and Jenny goes off without him. She lands in the smalltown where her grandmother lived and runs into a lovely waitress who turns out to be Ellen's mother. As the story goes on, we discover the truth behind Jenny's mothers side and that Ellen is connected to her and who knows maybe Jenny is Ellen's second chance at redemption. Without giving too much of the story away, this was a real heartstring tugger story and does focus on families, child abuse and neglect. Really worth the read though, if you can stomach these types of stories.