Can a troubled young girl reenter society after living in isolation?

When a beautiful 16-year-old girl named Sophie is found sequestered in a cage-like room in a rundown house in the desolate hills of Arbon Valley, Idaho, the entire community is shocked to learn she is the legendary Callidora–a baby girl who was kidnapped from her crib almost seventeen years ago and canonized in missing posters with portraits of what the fabled girl might resemble. Authorities soon learn that the cage was there to protect people from Sophie, because her biological father believes she is cursed.

Sophie is discovered after the man she knows as Papa, shoots and injures Damien, a young man who is trying to rescue her. Now, unsocialized and thrust into the world, and into a family she has never met, Sophie must decide whether she should accept her Papa’s claims that she is cursed and he was only trying to protect others, or trust the new people in her life who have their own agendas. Guided by a wise cousin, Sophie realizes that her most heartbreaking challenge is to decide if her love for Damien will destroy him like her Papa claims, or free her from past demons that haunt her mind.

The Color of Snow by Brenda Stanley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the most amazing young adult books I have read in a while.  The story was expertly crafted, and the message came across in a very real way.  I was drawn in from the first page through the very last sentence.

I connected with this book in a real way since I was married to a possibly schizophrenic man at one time in my life.  He also came from a family where mental illness was a problem.  Unfortunately, he did not control it through medication like he should have, and my marriage had to be dissolved to protect my daughter and me from living a controlled possibly violent life.  The end of the book, when Sophie began to face the truth about her past, resonated with me, and I understood, to a degree, what she was feeling.  Even using the Bible and God to justify her father’s treatment of her was something that sounded familiar.

The way in which Brenda Stanley wrote the book was truly amazing.  The beginning of the book reminded the reader of similar stories in the news, and I felt that I had to keep reading so I could put all the pieces together. The author jumped back and forth between various years in the character’s lives, and so the reader is often left hanging and wondering why something happened or what was going on.  But in the end, all the questions were answered–I was certainly glad of that!

I appreciated the fact that there were no bedroom scenes, and the profanity was extremely minimal.  Real issues such as racial prejudice, religious intolerance, pedophilia, and murder were dealt with on a real level.  Even the discussion of whether “curses” were real or not was explored.  And the message of not having to follow established family patterns and breaking cycles was dealt with in an understandable fashion.

I can’t recommend this book enough to everyone.  I have never read anything by Brenda Stanley, but she has quickly become one of my favorite young adult books.  The book was a very readable book, and its message will resonate with a good share of readers.

I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

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Brenda Stanley is the former news anchor at her NBC affiliate KPVI in Eastern Iadho. Her writing has been recognized by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards, the Idaho Press Club and the Society for Professional Journalists. She is a graduate of Dixie College in St. George, Utah, and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Brenda lived for two years in Ballard, Utah, within the Fort Duchesne reservation where the novel is set. She and her husband live on a small ranch near the Snake River with their horses and dogs.

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