Little Girl Gone - by Drusilla Campbell (Paperback)

About the Book

The case of a missing teenage girl profoundly impacts the lives of two people: Madora, the emotionally starved girlfriend in a complicated relationship with the kidnapper, and Django, the 12-year-old boy who discovers the whereabouts of the teenager and plots to free both her and the kidnapper's girlfriend.

Book Synopsis

Madora was seventeen, headed for trouble with drugs and men, when Willis rescued her. Fearful of the world and alienated from family and friends, she ran away with him and for five years they have lived alone, in near isolation. But after Willis kidnaps a pregnant teenager and imprisons her in a trailer behind the house, Madora is torn between her love for him and her sense of right and wrong. When a pit bull puppy named Foo brings into Madora's world another unexpected person--Django Jones, a brilliant but troubled twelve-year-old boy--she's forced to face the truth of what her life has become.

An intensely emotional and provocative story, Little Girl Gone explores the secret hopes and fears that drive good people to do dangerous things . . . and the courage it takes to make things right.

Review Quotes

"Campbell beautifully captures the raw and stark reality of Madora's life while building tension and suspense towards a climactic ending. Little Girl Gone is a fantastic exploration into domestic violence and the power of courage in the face of tragedy."--BookFinds

"Little Girl Gone peers insightfully into the lives of people easily written off as monsters. With an economy of style, vivid details, and grace of expression, Drusilla Campbell has written a novel well worth staying up late to keep reading."--Laurel Corona, author of PENELOPE'S DAUGHTER and FINDING EMILIE

"An unflinching portrayal of life in emotional and physical captivity, "Little Girl Gone" is also a disturbing peek at the underbelly of society. The novel examines what it means to be a savior, in reality and delusion.... Campbell has a powerfully understated voice and resists the easy path of sensationalizing the story with prurient details simply to shock. Instead she provides authentic drama rich with complex psychological composition. The result is a novel that is hard to read, but even harder to put down."--San Diego Union Tribune

"Campbell burns through Simone's struggles and those of Roxanne in haunting, graphic detail. Should be on everyone's book club list."--Publisher's Weekly on THE GOOD SISTER

"Campbell writes with deceptive simplicity all the more impressive for the psychological currents simmering below the surface of a barren terrain. Lives made vulnerable by accommodation to loneliness are caught in the web of one man's madness, the rugged landscape a bleak canvas for all manner of bad decisions. But fate intervenes on behalf of Brock's prisoners, a life-long lie is revealed, a boy's fantastical tale proved true, and the frayed connections between a mother and daughter mended in a novel that celebrates the power of friendship and the freedom to make one's own choices."--www.curledup.com

"Campbell's latest has full-blown appeal for teen readers, echoing stories of abduction in the news (a là Jaycee Dugard, and her memoir A Stolen Life) or popular fiction (think of Emma Donoghue's Alex Award-winning Room)."----- Library Journal

"Campbell's powerful novel explores the depth of depravity cloaked as charity and the ability to take a leap of faith and change the direction of one's life. This compelling story will stay with you long after the book is finished."--Monsters and Critics on Little Girl Gone

"Drusilla Campbell is a long time writer with several books in print. She is very talented in winding stories with strong women finding their voices. She proves that she knows what she is doing with Little Girl Gone."--ChaptersandChats.com

"Drusilla Campbell uses lyrical descriptions of the desert setting to make each character's loneliness more atmospheric."--Newark Star Ledger

"Nobody gets to the marrow of human flaws and frailties better than Drusilla Campbell. In LITTLE GIRL GONE you are immersed in the lives of people you think you'll never meet and come to care deeply about what happens to each of them. This is a compelling story that won't leave you alone even after you've turned the last page."--Judy Reeves, Author of A WRITER'S BOOK OF DAYS

"Resist the urge to turn the page to find out what happens next. Linger, instead, to savor the skillfully crafted writing."--Judy Reeves, author of Writing Alone, Writing Together on WILDWOOD

"Strong and touching." -PublishersWeekly--Publishers Weekly

"The pull of family and career, the limits of friendship and the demands of love all come to vivid life in Wildwood."--Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue on WILDWOOD

"The story will make you ache for these two women who are bound inextricably and irrevocably by their shared past."--Bestselling author T. Greenwood on THE GOOD SISTER

"When is the last time you cheered out loud for a character in a novel? That's what I did as I read Drusilla Campbell's Little Girl Gone. The complex relationships between Campbell's richly drawn characters took me on a psychological roller coaster that tested my expectations, my values, and my heart. This story of tension and triumph is a perfect bookclub selection. Don't miss it!"--Diane Chamberlain, bestselling author of The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes

"With unflinching honesty, Drusilla Campbell explores the emotional complexities between sisters and mothers, and just how far we will go to hurt and help each other. Poignant and intense."--Ellen Newmark, author of The Book of Unholy Mischief on THE GOOD SISTER

About the Author

Drusilla Campbell is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: Wildwood, The Edge of Sky, and Blood Orange. Before she started school she had crossed the Pacific Ocean three times. In her twenties she lived in Europe and Central America. Today she's happy to stay at home in San Diego with her husband, the attorney and poet Art Campbell, two rescued dogs, and three horses.