Kaye Gibbons has a unique ability of not only getting inside a character's head but actually becoming that character. Life with Ellen Foster will take your heart away as one child comes to grip with a horrific childhood.
After her mother commits suicide by overdosing on her medication, eleven- year-old Ellen, the title character and narrator of the book, must find herself a loving home and family to take her in. Immediately after her mother's death, Ellen endures repeated physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by her alcoholic father and, because of her father's habit, is forced to pay the bills, shop for groceries, and cook for herself. Ellen retreats to her friend Starletta's house for refuge from her father and his food-grubbing, flesh- grabbing friends. Starletta and her parents, who are black, live in a grungy cabin without an indoor bathroom.
After her mother commits suicide by overdosing on her medication, eleven- year-old Ellen, the title character and narrator of the book, must find herself a loving home and family to take her in. Immediately after her mother's death, Ellen endures repeated physical, psychological, and sexual abuse by her alcoholic father and, because of her father's habit, is forced to pay the bills, shop for groceries, and cook for herself. Ellen retreats to her friend Starletta's house for refuge from her father and his food-grubbing, flesh- grabbing friends. Starletta and her parents, who are black, live in a grungy cabin without an indoor bathroom.
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