I earn commission on any purchases made through these links.ġ3-year-old Vanessa lives on the island with her parents and younger brother, Ben. You can order GATHER THE DAUGHTERS by Jennie Melamed from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Waterstone’s or UK. And she returns home, muddy and terrified, clutching in her small hand a truth that could unravel their carefully constructed island world forever. It is at the end of one of these summers, as the first frost leaves the ground, that one of the younger girls witnesses something she was never supposed to see. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps to roam wild: they run, they fight, they sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. Boys grow up knowing they will one day reign inside and outside the home, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood.īut before that times comes, there is an island ritual that offers children an exhilarating reprieve. On a small island, cut off from the rest of the world, there’s a community that lives by its own rules. Thou shalt not allow women who are not sister, daughter, or mother to gather without a man to guide them. Thou shalt not allow thy wife to stray in thought, deed, or body. Thou shalt not touch a daughter who has bled until she enters her summer of fruition. Thou shalt not raise more than two children. Thou shalt not enter another man’s home uninvited.
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