Into the Free - by Julie Cantrell (Paperback)

About the Book

Mille is just a girl. But she's the only one strong enough to break the family cycle.

Book Synopsis

Saturated in Southern ambiance and written in the vein of other literary bestsellers like Kathryn Stockett's The Help and Tom Franklin's Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Julie Cantrell's New York Times bestselling Into the Free that will sweep you away long after the novel ends.

In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a "nothing mama," she struggles to find a place where she really belongs.

For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key that unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to break her family's longstanding cycle of madness and abuse. Through it all, Millie experiences the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can she finally make her way into the free?

Millie is just a girl. But she's the only one strong enough to break the family cycle.

"Gritty, compelling, and beautifully told, Into the Free will take you into a coming-of-age story filled with heartrending hardship and luminous hope. Julie Cantrell is a writer to watch!" --Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

"Readers will fall in love with Millie Reynolds, girl with one eye on the heavens and the other on the savages that occupy our world . . . a searing tale of heartache, faith, forgiveness, and doubt set amid gypsies, angels, addicts, asylums, roughnecks, and rodeo hands." --Neil White, author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts

"A lyrical, moving, haunting, wise, brutal, warmhearted, and ultimately freeing and inspiring coming-of-age tale told with poetic honesty. . . . Into the Free swept me up and swept me along." --Jennifer Niven, bestselling author of The Ice Master

• New York Times bestseller
• Can be read as a stand-alone novel, although the story continues in When Mountains Move
• Book length: approximately 90,000 words
• Includes a reader's guide, author interview, and discussion questions for book clubs

Review Quotes

'A young girl growing into adolescence confronts family abuse and a dark past in this lyrical debut novel. Cantrell's exquisitely written story immerses readers in a world that is as cruel as it is beautiful. From the opening lines to the very last sentence, the book's magnetic prose bewitches and enthralls on every page. A visceral and gripping journey of a young woman's revelations about God and self, this novel will surely excite any reader who appreciates a compelling story about personal struggle and spiritual resilience.'--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Julie Cantrell is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Into the Free, the 2013 Christy Award winning Book of the Year and recipient of the Mississippi Library Association's Fiction Award. Cantrell has served as editor-in-chief of the Southern Literary Review and is a recipient of the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Fellowship. Her second novel, When Mountains Move, won the 2014 Carol Award for Historical Fiction and, like her debut, was selected for several Top Reads lists. Visit her online at juliecantrell.wordpress.com, Facebook: juliecantrellauthor, and Twitter: @JulieCantrell.