I met Bonnie Jo on a plane that got hella delayed heading to Barcelona right before all hell broke loose in the world with the pandemic of 2020. She said that she was an author for a living and I'm not even sure how I got her name. Maybe she told me her first name and the name of her book. I tracked it down out of curiosity and it served me well. This book delighted and horrified me. It stayed with me, which I can't say of all stories. The reality of the protagonist needing to fend for herself, find her own way, raise herself....what a coming of age story, a coming to womanhood story, a coming to self story. I didn't expect it from this book, and from some random woman on a delay who watched me play cribbage with my husband. But something about her was relatable and authentic, and it showed through in her work.