I had to check the cover several times because Watkins convincingly and effortlessly captures female thoughts and actions.Įven though Aunt Sue and Book are fictional characters, the author based their characters from a real newspaper article. It makes you realize that there are truly evil people out in the world like Aunt Sue, and Book. She is a strong, determined character surprisingly brought to life by a male author.

I found myself thinking: how much can one girl take? But Iris is no ordinary girl. This contemporary young adult novel is a powerful, heartwrenching tale of what can happen when life takes a devastating turn for the worse. Powerful and deeply moving, this compelling novel affirms the redemptive power of animals and the resilience of the human spirit. Sent to live with an offbeat foster family and their “dooking” ferrets, Iris must find a way to take care of the animals back at the farm, even if it means confronting Aunt Sue. Things come to a head when Iris sets two young goats free to save them from slaughter, and an enraged Aunt Sue orders her brutish son, Book, to beat Iris senseless – a horrific act that lands Book and his mother in jail. Iris, a vegetarian and animal lover, immediately clashes with Aunt Sue, who mistreats the livestock, spends Iris’s small inheritance, and thinks nothing of striking Iris for the smallest offense.

Summary from Goodreads: After her veterinarian dad dies, sixteen-year-old Iris Wight must leave her beloved Maine to live on a North Carolina farm with her hardbitten aunt and a cousin she barely knows.

What comes after by steve watkins