If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

If You Find Me

by Emily Murdoch

NOW INCLUDING A BRAND-NEW EPILOGUE!

There are some things you can't leave behind...

In If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch, a broken-down camper hidden deep in a national forest is the only home fifteen year-old Carey can remember. The trees keep guard over her threadbare existence; the one bright spot is Carey's younger sister, Jenessa, who depends on Carey for her very survival. All they have is each other, as their mentally ill mother comes and goes with greater frequency. Until that one fateful day their mother has disappeared for good, and two strangers arrive. Suddenly, the girls are taken from the woods and thrust into a bright and perplexing new world of high school, clothes and boys.

Now, Carey must face the truth of why her mother abducted her ten years ago, while haunted by a past that won't let her go...a dark past that hides many secrets, including the reason Jenessa hasn't spoken a word in over a year. Carey knows she must keep her sister close, and her secrets even closer, or risk watching her new life come crashing down.

Reviewed by Suz @ Bookish Revelations on

5 of 5 stars

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Emily Murdoch pens one of the years most poignant and intriguing young adult novel, If You Find Me. Emotionally gripping and suspensefully stunning, If You Find Me will chill readers to the bone. It reads like a punch to the gut, touching on painful subjects of abuse and abandonment. The sensitivity and care that Emily Murdoch takes when developing the story, is one of the things that makes it a little bit easier to read the novel itself. Everything about this harrowing tale of greif, tragedy, and despair all seem to blend together seemlessly - the mystery, suspense, and intrigue make it truly stand out and bold tell a story of pain that has nowhere else to go but up.

The evils of the world are not masked by any means. Carey's world has been dark and bleak from the start, as she's thrown into a life full of turmoil and strife. Forced to grow up much earlier than she should have to, she's left to care for her half-sister Janessa for days, weeks, even months at a time; while her mother comes and goes. Carey is such an incredibly strong and intelligent character, one that I came to admire a lot while reading the book. She does what she has to do for herself and Janessa, since her mother who's dealing with her addiction to meth and her own mental illness, cannot function properly to provide the essential things that both her and her sister need to function normally. The things that Carey had to face while living in the small camper in the woods, were unbearable and unforgettable. Witnessing her trying to be strong enough to overcome these painful emotional scars is absolutely the most beautiful element of this tragic story.

Emily Murdoch writes the relationships within this novel in such a delicate and tender way, that make them incredibly beautiful and heart-aching to witness. The strength and vulnerability that she has related these characters and their heart-wrenching tale of sorrow to, is quite simply moving beyond the telling. With the hint of a slow-building potential romance in Carey's future, and a chance to re-build her own life as well as her sister's, If You Find Me will stir the hearts of reader's everywhere.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 17 December, 2012: Finished reading
  • 17 December, 2012: Reviewed