Gather the Daughters

A Novel

By: Jennie Melamed

Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard

Never Let Me Go meets The Giver in this haunting debut about a cult on an isolated island where nothing is as it seems.

Years ago, just before the country was incinerated to wasteland, 10 men and their families colonized an island off the coast. They built a radical society of ancestor worship, controlled breeding, and the strict rationing of knowledge and history. Only the Wanderers - chosen male descendants of the original 10 - are allowed to cross to the wastelands, where they scavenge for detritus among the still-smoldering fires.

The daughters of these men are wives-in-training. At the first sign of puberty, they face their Summer of Fruition, a ritualistic season that drags them from adolescence to matrimony. They have children, who have children, and when they are no longer useful, they take their final draught and die. But in the summer, the younger children reign supreme. With the adults indoors and the pubescent in Fruition, the children live wildly - they fight over food and shelter, free of their fathers' hands and their mothers' despair. And it is at the end of one summer that little Caitlin Jacob sees something so horrifying, so contradictory to the laws of the island, that she must share it with the others.

Born leader Janey Solomon steps up to seek the truth. At 17-years-old, Janey is so unwilling to become a woman, she is slowly starving herself to death. Trying urgently now to unravel the mysteries of the island and what lies beyond before her own demise, she attempts to lead an uprising of the girls that may be their undoing.

Gather the Daughters is a smoldering debut; dark and energetic, compulsively listenable, Melamed's novel announces her as an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

©2017 Jennie Melamed (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Compulsive and suspenseful... This beautifully and carefully constructed work pulls no punches in its depiction of a bleak future; it will attract fans of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and readers who enjoy horror, suspense, and dystopian fiction." ( Library Journal )

"An intriguing, gorgeously realized and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart." (Kate Hamer, author of The Girl in the Red Coat)

"Melamed is a masterful writer, and she establishes a hauntingly vivid atmosphere... This is a haunting work in the spirit of The Handmaid's Tale - but Melamed more than holds her own. Hopefully, her debut is a harbinger of more to come. Fearsome, vivid, and raw: Melamed's work describes a world of indoctrination and revolt." ( Kirkus )

A Hard Hitter

Gather the Daughters is pretty archetypal cult-based fiction, but instead of relying on horrific twists, it relies on dramatic irony. Melamed writes intentionally for her audience to glean meanings from situations, concepts, and conversations that her daring young girls do not understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t mind the occasionalunsettling read. Be forewarned, this book contains violence/rape triggers.

liked the story, disliked the narrator

the story is raw and graphic but somehow still captivating and mesmerizing. not the kind of story for everyone, especially those whom it could trigger due to rape and insest themes, but I enjoyed it. I, however, really disliked the narrator. it's possibly only a preference because I tend to be rather picky, but the narrator detracted a lot from the story for me. there is enough male dialogue that there really needed to be another male narrator for those parts because a woman trying to imitate the gruffness and deepness of a man's voice, especially with such topics this book discusses, was a big mistake in my opinion. she did better with the female voices but, even though these were mostly female children and their voices would be higher pitched, it still seemed strained a bit and to falsetto.

Amalgam & THT!

The narrator mispronounced amalgam a couple of times, made me chuckle. If you like, The Handmaids Tale, you will find this compelling. There aspects of many religious practices shadowed in this story. The Amish rumpshringa, the old Mormon practice of reassigning wives/children. Various religious organizations power-struggles & caste system of hierarchy.

WOW!!!

This story grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go!! I highly recommend it!! The narrator is one of the best I’ve heard! She does an amazing job with different voices and her regular reading voice is so soothing and captivating.

Terrible ending

There’s so much build up for an epic ending and so many ways this book could have gone that would have been fantastic. The ending however is a huge let down. Still a pretty good listen but disappointing in the end.

Not recommended

I found this depressing and pointless. Another post apoplectic drama about how horrible the world will be in the future.

Interesting and thought-provoking

While I loved the story itself, I was less impressed with the narrator. Many of the characters were portrayed in a very whiney voice that distracted from the storyline and damaged the integrity of the roles. I listened to this book twice and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the whiney voices and the mispronounced words (ex/ frantically was pronounced "frah-net-ically" and "strength" was pronounced "streh-ngth")

Would definitely recommend!

Meh

Initially the story had a lot of promise, but it left too many things unanswered. Mostly the incest, there was no real explanation for why that had to be included and came off as just a tool for shock value and like the author wanted to write a story rooted in incest. Again, could have been super interesting but just wasn’t throughly fleshed out. Also the narrator was terrible. She was fine when narrating the story but the voices the chose for the characters were awful. She made all the girls whiney and screechy so to the point where it was annoying and did not at all reflect the emotion they were trying to convey.

Really upsetting but an extremely important read

This story is not Chicken Soup For The Soul. It’s a heady, spicy stew that burns your tongue and esophagus and makes your eyes water, but it energizes you.

A very brave book.

Fans of the Handmaids Tale will find this book to be a powerful and thought provoking read.