‘One of the most important books you’ll pick up this decade’ Harper’s Bazaar
‘You think you’re invincible. You think you won’t ever miss. We need to put the fear on you. You need to surrender yourself to death before you ever begin, and accept your life as a state of grace, and then and only then will you be good enough.’
At 14, Turtle Alveston knows the use of every gun on her wall;
That chaos is coming and only the strong will survive it;
That her daddy loves her more than anything else in this world.
And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her with him.
She doesn’t know why she feels so different from the other girls at school;
Why the line between love and pain can be so hard to see;
Why making a friend may be the bravest and most terrifying thing she has ever done
And what her daddy will do when he finds out …
Sometimes strength is not the same as courage.
Sometimes leaving is not the only way to escape.
Sometimes surviving isn't enough.
“Easily one of my favorite debut novels of the past decade, My Absolute Darling is not for the faint of heart. Turtle, the fourteen-year-old protagonist, is abused by her monstrous father. She’s an outsider and a fighter who must find her own way in the world, despite how lonely she feels. Her greatest strength, she learns the hard way, is found within herself.” MICHELE FILGATE FOR LIT HUB
“Few coming-of-age stories deliver the sheer lyrical power of Tallent’s debut, a BookExpo Buzz Book… Lucidly written, both heartbreaking and heartfelt, this book is ultimately affirmative without the slightest sentimentality, and it’s remarkable.” LIBRARY JOURNAL, STARRED REVIEW
“Turtle is an extraordinary character whose thoughts and actions enliven the pages of Tallent’s remarkable first novel—remarkable not only for its characterization but also for its minute examination of the natural world that Turtle inhabits. So vivid is the gorgeously realized setting that it becomes itself a major character in a novel that lingers in the mind long after the final page.” BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW
“Room meets Rambo in this emotionally fraught first novel… In Turtle, Tallent has crafted a resourceful and resilient character…[her] story is harrowingly visceral.” PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“[Tallent has] written a fearless adventure tale that's as savvy about internal emotional storms as it is about wrangling with family and nature… A powerful, well-turned story about abuse, its consequences, and what it takes to survive it.” KIRKUS, STARRED REVIEW
“The tale of Turtle, a teenage girl being raised by her unstable widower father in the Northern California wilderness, will draw you so intimately into the heart and mind of this troubled captive that you’ll almost feel her anguish—emotional and physical—as your own through the page. Tallent’s breathtaking debut is a harrowing and at times psychologically difficult journey on the scale of A Little Life or The Goldfinch, but it’s worth it. The unflagging tenacity of this young heroine as she navigates her path to adulthood against seemingly insurmountable odds is a true inspiration.” HARPER’S BAZAAR
