Raised in isolation, Maude Julien's experiences are harrowing and matter-of-fact. She records her childhood at the hands of her father, whose cultish control of both Julien and her mother included dictating their meals, sleep schedules, and access to education. This includes physical and emotional abuse, as well as the mistreatment of animals. Miraculously, Julien survives these torments and develops a mind of her own, eventually escaping her family. It's a relief and a joy to read how she overcomes a childhood rife with abuse.

Most of the time when I think of child abuse I think of adults who cannot control their tempers or who sexually abuse children or who neglect them.  I don't think of people who purposefully set out to conceive and raise a child who knows no tenderness or care.  Showing emotions such as fear or love--or even showing that you had a preference about things was considered a weakness in her family and weaknesses were things to be eliminated.

Maude was removed from school when she was four and the family moved to a large estate.  Her contact with outsiders became less and less frequent until she was a teen.  She managed to "escape" because a tutor realized how bad things were and convinced her parents that things would be worse at his school.  

Surprisingly, Maude made it out alive, and with her sense of humanity intact.  My heartstrings tugged as a read what happened to her as a child and I kept wondering how many people had any idea what was happening to her.  I kept wondering what could have been done to help her.  As a volunteer who works with children in my Catholic parish, I have to attend "Safe Environment" training regularly and one of the topics is recongizing characteristics of abused children.  Hopefully, if I ever have an abused child in my groups I will recongize it and be able to help the child.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B+

I kept having to remind myself that this was a memoir not a work of fiction.  Horrifying read that I could not put down! Highly recommended! Read alike - The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.

This was a difficult read because of how the dad treated his daughter. It was interesting to read it, though.

It is hard to believe a person could actually live through the terrible emotional and physical trauma that the author endured and come out even somewhat intact.  While the story at times seemed unbelievable in its cruelty, the details were proof that someone could not invent such a story.  I kept turning the pages to find out if ever there was relief for her; kept turning the pages to find out if she rebelled; kept turning the pages to find out what happened to her parents.  I wished only that I knew more about her current relationship with her parents and if she ever confronted them.  This is a perfect book for readers who enjoy memoirs about overcoming very difficult childhoods like Glass Castle and Liar's Club.

Can never go wrong with Sandra Brown. She once again takes readers on a bumpy ride

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be raised by psychotic, crazy people, you will find out by reading Maude Julien's story. This book is translated from the original French, and while not overly dazzling writing, it's well done. The end does provide hope, but reading though the unimaginable horrors of Maude's childhood won't leave you with warm fuzzies.

Really, Maude's father is the truly crazy one, believing himself to be a highly superior human. He thinks he's a knight, a Freemason, and a Chosen one, and that it's his responsibility to raise his daughter to "control the weak-minded and bring about the great regeneration of the universe." Maude's mother probably didn't start out crazy, just never got the opportunity to become who she should've, could've been. Drawing on her father's poverty, Louis Didier had his wife entrusted to his care when she was only six years old, immediately beginning her "education" and grooming to be a suitable mother for their child. Unfortunately, this upbringing doesn't leave Jeannine Didier with many faculties for being a warm and loving mother. 

When their daughter, Maude, is three years old, he sequesters the family in a house with him virtually isolated from civilization. Maude and her mother have to be subservient to Monsieur Didier in every way, from taking a bath in the same water that he's used (and only twice a month at that!), to holding a bowl for him to pee in, to sitting in his room in silence day after day when he is ill. In an effort to train Maude up to become a superhuman, her father subjects her to many tests to strengthen her natural impulses, including having to grasp an electric fence without making a face or a sound, doing arithmetic for 10 or more hours a day with no break, sitting up all night in a chair in a completely dark cellar with rats in order to "meditate on death." He makes Maude attempt to move things with her mind so that she will have a powerfully trained mind, able to resist toture should she be persecuted. When failed, all of these "tests" have severe consequences in addition to her parent's extreme disappointment--silent treatment and not being allowed to speak for over a month, being tossed into a freezing cold pool of water repeatedly, being forced to abuse her animals. Over time, Maude has glimpses of her mother's hatred for her husband, and she can't understand why her mother doesn't love her, or at the very least help her make a plan to get the two of them out from under her father's tyranny. 

Maude eventually escapes her household and cruel parents thanks to a wise and caring music teacher. She benefits from therapy and even becomes a therapist herself. She marries and has daughters of her own, but can never completely shake the effects of her torturous childhood.

I enjoyed this book but I didn't think it fully developed the depths of the relationships.  What really happened to our protagonist? Did she really escape? Interesting questions without answers.

A new author for me....already looking forward to Ms Julien's next story.  Enjoyed this novel!!!

In an effort to turn her into a superhuman, Maude's father rigidly controlled every aspect of her life.  In addition to rigidly controlling her diet and amount of sleep, her father created tasks and obstacles designed to eliminate weakness.  Maude had to swim in freezing temperatures, hold onto the electric fence, drink large quantities of alcohol and then perform tasks and countless other drills and tasks.  Isolated from others, Maude dreamed of a normal life.

This was a fascinating yet heartbreaking story.  The author did an amazing job of keeping her adult feelings out of the book and telling a pure story.  I would like to read a sequel, showing how Maude overcame her father's teachings and legacy.  Overall, highly recommended.

I just finished reading this book.  I must say that as I was wading through it I kept asking myself why.  I found it very depressing and also hard to imagine living the life that this author did.  I was happy to read that in the end she conquered most of her fears.  I did not find it at all uplifting.  It was a memoir about very damaged people.  I found it so hard to believe that people could treat the members of their own family in such a horrific way.

As a child, Maude experienced some horrific things at the hands of two people who should have been the ones to protect and care for her - her parents. Not only did they put her through awful trials to "test" her, but they even denied her their basic love and affection so as not to expose their supposed weaknesses to their "enemies". Maude's courage to face her day to day life was amazing though she mutilated her own body and tormented herself because her parents labeled her as a disappointment or failure in their odd quest to turn her into a "superhuman". I found this book very difficult to read simply because the torture she experienced was so dark and inhumane. I was very interested in her life and the psychosis of her father, but I had to read this book in short sittings to be able to handle the content without letting myself get consumed by anger. Sadly, Maude was a child who was helpless to rescue herself from the clutches of her revolting father and her sickeningly compliant mother and this made me want to throw the book across the room and move on to something more uplifting. But... I couldn't give up on Maude and I wanted to know that she was ultimately going to make it out of her household and out into the world outside those heightened walls and locked gates of her parents' home.

Heartbreaking. Compelling. What a strong, courageous girl!

It never ceases to amaze me how cruel humans can be, and in this memoir, Julian recounts the nightmare she lived every day growing up with a dangerously disturbed father and a weak and terrified mother. The little family, mother, father and child live in an isolate house in the country, giving the author no chance to make friends, no way to contact neighbors for help. She is systematically tortured by such routines as a “Meditation on Death” where she is left alone in a dark cellar and told not to move or to speak. If she opens her mouth, the rats and spiders will crawl inside her and eat her from the inside out. Her food is allowed to go stale before she is allowed to eat it. Life has no pleasure, and Julian exists merely as a possession of her parents, theirs to do whatever they wished. This is a disturbing, but remarkable story of survival and resilience that will be compared to the Glass Castle. Harrowing