This book will appeal to many readers, but it just wasn’t for me. I adored the main character, Kit, but I found the story very difficult to follow. There was not a strong sense of time or place. I assumed the school would feature more prominently, but it was not a huge part of the story aside from the disturbingly graphic scenes of sexual abuse. Oddly, this read more like a murder mystery than the historical fiction I expected.

This story is heartbreaking and a reminder of our nation's cruel past to those who had no voice in the 1950's. It is told through the eyes of a 9 year old Cherokee girl coming-of-age with a series of unfortunate, tragic events. When Kit is sent to live in the Ashley Lordard Christian Boarding school, her thoughts paint a picture in her diary of her innocence. Her writing tells her story even if she doesn't quite understand the realm of it. Her father is is prison for murder charges and her mother had died in sickness, so she was placed into the home where she suffered, as well as other Native American children, sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the director. They denied them their heritage.

Although the story is a trail of tragedies, it also tells a story of friendship, the love of nature, fishing and just getting by on what they have. When Kit is not fishing, she spends her time in their garden or reading Nancy Drew mysteries. Their lives were simple, but they were a family network in the neighborhood. A beautiful woman, Bella, moves into her Uncle Joe's cabin and their friendship blossoms, but prejudice and injustice prevail and it becomes the center of tragedy in this quiet little bayou town.
It will make you angry, sad and confused, as well as bewildered at the injustices. The author is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, which is well deserved with this unbelievable treatment and determination during this time period. It is a short read coming in at 224 pages, but it packs a huge punch.
Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins US for this incredible copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was not sure what to expect from "Stealing" by Margaret Verble. I enjoyed this book more with each chapter. Kit Crockett is truly the heroine of this tale and Verble is a very good storyteller. Kit's heritage is Cherokee and as she explains "Cherokees live in houses and mostly talk English" unlike some other Native American tribes in the fifties. Her house is in the country near the bayou and she is smart about nature as country kids are. Kit loves to read and is a smart child. She starts to write about her confusing life and her thoughts about it. Beginning a sort of diary to document things as proof for someone to read someday. This book is definitely worth your time .

Thanks to NetGalley , Verble and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so good but sad but beautiful at the same time. I really liked this book. I cannot wait for this book to be released. I’m going to add it to my private library and reread it again. Thank you to mariner books and netgalley for the early copy

I knew this was going to be devastating, obviously, but I was unprepared for just HOW upsetting it would be. The cruelty and injustice coming from a child's voice is really hard to take but is so beautiful to read at the same time.

A beautifully written book about a child who is mostly alone in an adult world and has little guidance to understand what is happening around her and to her. As it unfolds and the reader sees what has happened, the pure injustice of it all is almost painful to realize, but important to realize. It reminds me of To Kill A Mockingbird in that we really see the world through Kit's eyes and feel what she feels. The prose is wonderfully descriptive and I hope this book is widely read and discussed.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's an absolute winner!

This gut wrenching story follows the life of Kit, a Native American girl who gets swept away in a wave of racism, physical and sexual abuse, and the loss of her culture and family with the effort to give her a "Christian" upbringing.

Kit remains strong and resourceful throughout the trauma she experiences. I wish that the story extended to give a look at Kit's future.

I also wish the book included a history on the Native Americans who were placed into government schools in the mid-1900s because that is a part of American history that is not often explored.

A solid 5 stars! For as difficult as the subject matter is, I had a hard time putting this story down. It also prompts me to research and learn more about the Native American government schools.

Stealing, by Margaret Verble, is all at once, a heartbreaking and uplifting novel. It's a beautifully detailed story that takes the reader from the backwoods of Louisiana to a legalistic, unhappy boarding school. The main character is a strong, spunky girl who'll have you rooting for her from beginning to end.
After losing her mom, Kit is so lonely. She occupies her time fishing and reading all the books she can borrow. Then she meets Bella, a single woman who's moved into her late uncles cabin.
Bella takes Kit under her wing and they offer each other much needed friendship. Unfortunately, a nosey neighbor decides that their friendship is suspect and puts tragedy into motion. Next thing Kit knows is that she's been sent to a corrupt boarding school that wants to tear her Cherokee heritage away from her.
Kit starts keeping a journal and with the passage of time, she starts to see how strong she really is.

The author who is Cherokee unfolds a heart rendering story of 9 year old Kit, a half Cherokee in the 1950's who lives near the Bayou and spends her day reading Nancy Drew Books, fishing, gardening and writing in her journal. Her journal is the basis of the book and hopefully an important savior in the end. The mystery of that statement will be found when you inhale this novel. A very easy read told in an authentic voice of a child, it begs to be consumed in a few days. Kit's mother dies and her father, a non-emotional man of few words, has the task of raising Kit. They have a deep unspoken love that ends up having tragic consequences. Kit, lonely after her mother's death, meets a young woman who has moved into a cabin near her. Their ongoing relationship helps sooth the loss that Kit struggles with. However after a series of tragedies, she is taken from her home and put in a Christian boarding school where sexual abuse and prejudice coat her daily life. Though her voice may be child-like, her story features serious adult harrowing and disturbing concerns. The novel highlights family, religious hypocrisy, morality, abuse, and discrimination in a universe where Kit's eyes open to the truth of the larger world and discovers truth is not always what it seems. Kit's guileless voice won me over; I am sure you will fall in love with her too.

This was a difficult book to read but one that is well worth it. Karen "Kit" Crockett is a curious, smart elementary school student. Her father is white and her mother is Cherokee living in the countryside of a small Oklahoma town in the 1950s. Kit has loving family around her but her life begins to unravel when her mother dies from TB. Grief and loneliness engulf both her father and herself. When a mysterious stranger moves into a nearby cabin Kit's life is made a bit more bearable. She and Bella forge a relationship of sorts but it soon comes under scrutiny from a sneaky, sanctimonious "do-gooder." Accusations end in a disastrous way leaving Kit's world in tatters. The so-called good Christians in town take it upon themselves to decide what is best for Kit. She ends up being sent away to a boarding school to be indoctrinated into the white,Christian world. Unspeakable things happen to her and her fellow Indian (this is the term used in the book) friends. But Kit has an ingenious plan to expose the evil being done as she chronicles events that led her to the school.

The subject of the book is another story of disgusting treatment indigenous children in both our country and Canada that is only recently being brought to light. Margaret Verble has done an excellent job highlighting the horrific history that is finally being recognized and atoned for.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for this e-galley.

Wow this was a tearjerker. This beautiful book broke my heart into a million pieces. It is obviously well researched and I learned a lot. I also cried endlessly.
I am so glad I read this and I would love to attend a book discussion for this book. If I still hosted book discussions this would be a for sure pick.

So much was stolen: Land. Language. Names/Identity. Culture. History. Heritage. Tradition. Family. Lives. Innocence. Freedom.

Karen “Kit” Crockett, is a sweet, innocent (and very smart) girl who gets caught up in a small town scandal involving her hardworking, war-hero father and two neighbors: an elderly busybody, and an independent, misunderstood (and very attractive) young woman. The story is captured in the pages of Kit’s journal; so the reader gets her account of the events that led up to her court-ordered placement in an overbearing, abusive, racist Christian boarding school instead of with her loving family.

The events at the school echo recent headlines regarding the mistreatment and cultural genocide of indigenous children in Canada and the US that forcibly removed children from their parents by the government for the purposes of forced assimilation and conversion to Christianity. Many were physically and sexually abused; many never returned home.

What I loved is the wisdom bestowed to young Kit from the limited time she had with her parents, grandparents. She used the knowledge that she’s a descendant of The Trail of Tears survivors as inspiration to propel her through difficult times by simply putting one foot in front of the other while focusing on the horizon; to practice patience to wait for the right time to strike (ancient hunting techniques), and other tribal nuggets she cleverly applies to navigate daily abuses, and plan her escape. Along the way, her reflections and observations bring into focus how children see, hear, and process racism, inequality, double-standards, and hypocrisy. Well Done!!

Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.

4.5⭐

“But a lot of the girls here have already given up. You can see it in their eyes and their shoulders. But not me. I’m not going to be that fence standing alone out in the field, so I don’t give up hope. That would be against my nature. I am descended from people who survived the Trail of Tears.”

It has been over two years since Karen “Kit “ Crockett was forcibly sent to The Ashley Lordard Children’s Home. After her mother’s demise Kit was being by her father who though a bit distant was never unkind to her. Close to her late mother’s Cherokee family, Kit had a caring and loving group of relatives who also looked out for her. Her days were spent attending school in town, roaming the countryside, fishing in the bayou, and reading Nancy Drew books borrowed from the bookmobile. When an enigmatic young woman named Bella moves into her late great uncle’s home nearby, Kit makes a new friend. But Kit’s closeness to Bella triggers an unfortunate sequence of events that ultimately lands her father in jail.

Kit is torn away from her family and eventually sent to a Christian boarding school at the age of nine for her education, a Christian upbringing and “good moral values”. At her new school, she meets other children from Native American families and along with them she is forced to shed her heritage and is subjected to ill-treatment, abuse and forced religious indoctrination. In other words, her life as she had known it was being “stolen” from her.

“And we’re told stories about how even little children are naturally evil and about how we’re all born with some sort of sin that has to get washed off of us. But I think the kids here are mean because they’re unhappy. They probably came here unhappy, and being in a children’s home doesn’t improve on that. But, in my experience, grown-ups are a lot meaner than kids.”

Kit begins writing about the events leading up to her father’s trial and subsequent incarceration, and her experiences as a student and boarder at Ashley Lordard in her journal, all the while devising a plan to find a way to return to her family. She hopes to reveal the truth about what goes on in the school and the abuse she is frequently subject to in the hands of Mr. Hodges, the Director whose idea of dealing with a “disciplinary situation” translates into sexually abusing minor girls, mostly targeting those from Native American backgrounds, a fact another victim shares with Kit.

Narrated in the first person, Stealing by Margaret Verble is a compelling read. The author brilliantly captures Kit’s innocence, inquisitiveness, confusion, pain and determination. This is an absorbing read and I found it hard to put down. Set in the 1950s, the story sheds a light on the plight of Native American children who were forcibly sent to boarding schools and compelled to abandon their Native identity and culture. Kit is an endearing protagonist and I was immersed in her world as seen through her eyes. I loved the author’s vivid description of the countryside and Kit’s closeness to nature. The author tackles sensitive themes such as religion, injustice, prejudice and sexual abuse with sensitivity and compassion. In turn I felt heartbroken, angry and hopeful as I kept turning the pages all the while rooting for Kit. Overall, this is an impactful read that I would not hesitate to recommend.

Many thanks to Margaret Verble, Mariner Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this beautifully-written novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book is due to be released on February 7, 2023.

Stealing by Margaret Verble

This is the first of Margaret Verble’s books I’ve read, although I have a few of her others on my to-read list. It is a heartbreaking story, shared through the eyes of Kit Crockett, a young Cherokee girl whose life has been filled with an appreciation of nature, a love of her father, and family, as well as sorrow.

<i>’Mama always called the cabin “the cabin.” It was really more like a shack, but “shack” isn’t a good word to describe where people live, particularly if they happen to be your kin. So when my great uncle Joe lived there, Mama said it was Uncle Joe’s cabin. And when he was killed, I still said it was Uncle Joe’s cabin for a while, because I didn’t forget him just because he was dead.’</i>

Both Kit and her father are still grieving the loss of her mother, although Kit seems to find solace in fishing or reading the Nancy Drew books she gets from the library, and the nature that surrounds her. For a young girl, she is very savvy about the habits of nature’s creatures, knowing that some are more dangerous than others and which are the ones to look out for. Her father, on the other hand, quietly goes through his days as though with every breath brings with it a memory of his wife.

As this begins, Kit decides to go fishing near what used to be Uncle Joe’s Cabin, hoping to cross paths with a dog along the way, and returns again the following weekend and after several return trips with a different car parked there each time, but always a bottle of liquor left on the porch, she realizes it is a woman living there named Bella.

<i>’...what struck me about her at first sighting, beyond just the way she was standing there with her hand on her hope and her head cocked like she was waiting for me, was that she had the prettiest hair I’d ever seen.’</i>

Bella befriends her, and enjoy each other’s company. Kit offering some of the fish she caught, and Bella offering food and something to drink. They typically spend time sitting and chatting on the front porch, and a sense of trust and friendship grows between them.

Themes of religion, of others basically forcing religion on her are woven through this story, as well as the mistreatment of specific groups of people on several levels, including sexual abuse, as well as a court trial. These previously ‘hidden stories,’ including Kit’s, are slowly revealed, some through Kit’s secret thoughts that she’s shared in her diary, while others are part of the drama of the trial in the court.

A story that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, shared through Margaret Verble’s simple, but lovely prose and a heartfelt compassion, this is one I will not soon forget.


Pub Date: 07 Feb 2023

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Mariner Books