THE LOST GIRL OF CRAVEN COUNTY

Two young women fight for their freedom in Depression-era North Carolina.

Matchar braids together two narratives: One is related by Millie Green, the daughter of a pickle manufacturer, and the other by a mysterious, apparently mute young woman who appears in Millie’s hometown of New Bern, North Carolina. Millie is nursing psychic wounds resulting from the death of her beloved younger brother and a breakdown due to her inability to find a treatment for him. At 25, she’s becoming an old maid by the standards of Little Jerusalem, New Bern’s claustrophobic Jewish neighborhood. She discovers a disheveled woman behind her family’s pickle warehouse and embarks on a mission to determine the woman’s identity, origins, and native language (since she doesn’t respond to English). Millie recounts the story of her own circumstances and standing within the community in an appealingly blunt style; her fervent wish to be freed of expectations of marriage runs directly counter to her mother’s hopes for her. When the narrator role switches to the stranger’s voice and her background is disclosed, her name is revealed to be Cecilia. She hails from dire poverty in a town not far from New Bern and, unsurprisingly, speaks English. On the run from a horrific institution where eugenics are part of the agenda, Cecilia enlists Millie’s help in maintaining her liberty. Matchar skillfully advances both women’s sagas, carrying them forward to a suspenseful denouement. The backstories of Millie’s family members and friends expose the good and bad sides of belonging to a closed community and reveal the ways a community can open up in response to the needs of others.

Engaging historical fiction with harbingers of current events.