I didn’t want to hear any more of Ann’s stupid talking or Mam’s stupid crying, so I pushed past them both, up the stairs, along the landing, into my room. I am not ashamed to say that I felt my heart break for little Chrissie even though she seemed to show almost no remorse for her crimes… read between the lines in this story it truly shattered me. It’s a very complex, complicated and very moving novel as you emotionally wrestle with many things, not just nature over nurture.

The First Day of Spring ‹ Literary Hub The First Day of Spring ‹ Literary Hub

The handkerchief was white turned gray and too wet to let in any more tears, but the woman kept on pushing them out. She unfolds how how the hunger ate away at Chrissie’s very being, this was extremely well done and I would imagine very difficult for the author so well done again ma’am, well done.From time to time I completely forgot that Chrissie in fact murdered a boy, because her story is so tragic and sad that I wanted to bundle her up (kicking and screaming as she definitely would have been - she is tough and fierce you know) and give her a big hot dinner, a bath and a safe place to live. I'll be honest and say that I had a hard time empathizing with Chrissie no matter how terrible her upbringing was.

THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING | Kirkus Reviews THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING | Kirkus Reviews

Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South. An old woman was hobbling beside me, and the fourth time Ann stopped and nagged she said, “You want to keep up with your mammy. But Chrissie rules the roost -- she's the best at wall-walking, she knows how to get free candy, and now she has a feeling of power that she never gets at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer. stars: This is a story with hang time; this is a story that will make you cry; this is a story that is sad, suspenseful, hopeful, and heart wrenching. The cupboards are always bare, meaning Chrissie has to scrounge for food, or rely on invitations from ‘friends’ mothers to stay for meals, and if they don’t invite her, she invites herself, pushes her way into their homes, she feels no embarrassment - hunger sees to that.Her fingers were rough and the pulling made it feel like my head skin was going to split, but I didn’t make a fuss because that would have made her pull harder. Eight-year-old Chrissie's voice is so raw and authentic that I could not stop turning the pages, desperate to find out what she would do next. All she wants is to raise her child in a safe and loving home and give her the childhood she never had.

The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker | Goodreads The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker | Goodreads

This could have been sensationalised, it isn’t, it’s sensitive but equally it confronts exactly what Chrissie does which is a clever balance to achieve. A quarter of the way through I was OH MY GOODNESS POOR LITTLE LOVE ( now that disturbed me) as I’ve got sympathy, understanding and raw empat At no point during this book did I feel anything but pity for Chrissie and my heart broke following her journey which was so sad and unnecessary.If you were younger than ten you didn’t usually go to the cell or have a trial, because whatever bad thing you had done, you were just a kid and it wasn’t your fault. She overheard being described as a “bad seed” and from that moment on she accepted she was bad and it was only whilst performing bad acts that she felt alive and “seen” by everyone. I found this out after I read the book and could see that Tucker manages to weave magic into her descriptions of hunger and desperation (I imagine from her own experiences).