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The Marsh King's Daughter
by Karen Dionne
For Readers:
Settle in for an excellent
psychological thriller with Karen Dionne's, The Marsh King's Daughter.
Helena Pelletier has buried her past as the daughter of a kidnapper and the
young teen he abducted. Growing up in a remote area in Michigan, Helena had no
idea that her mother was being held against her will. She was twelve before she
learned the truth and met opportunity to take her mother and run.
Their story made national
headlines. Reporters became most interested in Helena, a “wild child” who could
track and trap as well as her father, a man to whom she had been devoted and
who had tattooed Helena to mark each success in her homeschool of wilderness
survival skills. To escape the notoriety, Helena left town and
started a new life, severing contact with her mother and grandparents.
Fast forward several years and
Helena has two little girls and a husband who know nothing of her past. And
that's when she hears the news bulletin: her father has killed two guards and
escaped from prison. Helena immediately knows that the police won't be
successful at tracking him in the wild marsh where she grew up, the place she
knows her father will surely head. Police will seek her out to assist, and her
secret will be revealed.
The details of Helena's life
before and after her escape are spooled out with admirable synchronization and
creativity, but it is when she begins tracking her father that readers will be
most riveted. Each chapter is introduced with a quote from a dark fairy tale
with the same title: The Marsh King's Daughter, by Hans Christian
Andersen, with chilling omens of things to come. Dionne's obvious understanding of a
psychopath's issues of control and manipulation make the story leap from the
pages—an excellent work by a talented author.
Reviewed by Sue
Ellis.
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN 978-0-7352-1300-5
For Writers:
Karen Dionne cofounded Backspace, an online writers'
community. Belonging to a writers' group is often a positive thing for those involved,
a place to learn one's craft via critiques from fellow members.
It also didn't hurt that
Dionne had a homesteading experience in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the locale
she chose for her book. Writing what you know always lends a feeling of
authenticity to a piece.
