RUST AND STARDUST
By T. Greenwood
Harrowing and heartbreaking are the words that describe this story, based on the 1948 real-life abduction of 11-year old Sally Horner.
While stealing a composition notebook from the Woolworth’s in her hometown of Camden, New Jersey, young Sally is confronted by a man claiming to be an FBI agent. The man, convicted child abuser Frank LaSalle, frightens Sally into thinking she is going to court and possibly jail for her shoplifting crime. He tells her he is taking her into custody until her court date and the petrified child believes him. More horrifically, he convinces her to lie to her mother and tell her she is going to the shore with a friend for a few days so that no one will come looking for her. Thus begins almost 2 years of sexual abuse and false identities as the kidnapper takes her from state to state, always one step beyond being saved.
Told from the perspectives of Sally, her mother Ella, her sister Susan and various other characters, the author provides a realistic feel for the fear, guilt, shame and hopelessness that surely surrounded them all during this nightmare. The story of abduction is true, and the author’s fictional recounting of events over that two-year period was chilling enough to make me believe things definitely could have occurred the way they were written.
Sally Horner and her abductor were prototypes for characters in the novel “Lolita,” by Vladimir Nabokov. I was not aware of this, or even of Sally Horner herself until I read this book. For those who don’t know how Sally’s story turned out, I won’t expound any further. I will say that this can be a tough read for the tender-hearted, and there are potential triggers here for those who have suffered or witnessed sexual abuse.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
Reviewed March 2018
House of Black and Blue 