*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: The Hare
Author: Melanie Finn
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Publication Date: February 5, 2021
ISBN: 9781937512972
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Raised to be obedient by a stern grandmother in a blue-collar town in Massachusetts, Rosie accepts a scholarship to art school in New York City in the 1980s. One morning at a museum, she meets a worldly man twenty years her senior, with access to the upper crust of New England society. A daughter — Miranda — is born, just as his current con goes awry forcing them to abscond in the middle of the night to the untamed wilderness of northern Vermont. Almost immediately, Bennett abandons them in an uninsulated cabin without a car or cash for weeks at a time, so he can tend a teaching job that may or may not exist at an elite college. Rosie is forced to care for her young daughter alone, and to tackle the stubborn intricacies of the wood stove, snowshoe into town, hunt for wild game, and forage in the forest. As Rosie and Miranda’s life gradually begins to normalize, Bennett’s schemes turn malevolent, and Rosie must at last confront histwisted deceptions. Her actions have far-reaching and perilous consequences.
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The Hare is a beautiful, but very sad story of a woman who has no one to trust or rely on but herself. Life has not been kind to Rosie and she has suffered immensely. She faces difficult situation after difficult situation, and she can’t seem to catch a break. The birth of her daughter, Miranda, and the abandonment and maltreatment she faces at the hand of Miranda’s father, is the trigger for Rosie to start taking control of her life, even if her decisions are not ideal. Her whole life, she’s been at the mercy of others, and she finally reaches a point of needed to act on her daughter’s behalf, if not her own.
This book is a rumination on womanhood, abuse, trauma, and recovery. It follows Rosie’s story of resilience and recovery as she rising from the ashes and fights back against the oppression she’s faced from a patriarchal society for most of her life. The men around her continue to fall short and fail. They are abusers and conmen. Rosie has no one to rely on but herself and she does what she can for herself and her daughter. Her own decisions are difficult and fraught with error, but she does what she has to in order to survive.
It didn’t really read as “thriller” to me, but more literary fiction with thriller elements. It tackles difficult concepts and is absolutely beautifully written. Plus it’s got a gorgeous cover.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 