Jennie Melamed

A smoldering debut about an insular community on an island at the end of the world and the girls who start to question the rules that bind them.

A Novel

Gather the Daughters

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, ten 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 ten--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 seventeen 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 readable, Melamed's novel announces her as an unforgettable new voice in fiction.

Lindy

Not all of this is immediately obvious from cover copy so: read this book with caution if incest, pedophilia, rape, and/or eating disorders are triggers for you. Melamed stays away from graphic description of all of these except for when describing an anorexic character's body, but Gather the Daughters is largely an exploration of women's and girls' responses to unnameable trauma so these topics do form the backbone of the narrative. 

With The Handmaid's Tale's recent popular adaptation, we're due for a spate of dystopian fiction with religious and reproductive themes, and Gather the Daughters is one such offering. It's only natural that Gather the Daughters has and will continue to be compared to The Handmaid's Tale, although I think it does Melamed a disservice. The Handmaid's Tale is the story of an entire society before it's the story of the narrator; Gather the Daughters is the opposite. The Handmaid's Tale relies on the reader's sense of irony to comprehend Gilead; in Gather the Daughters, the characters' constrained perspectives just are, with little to contrast them against. That the girls act their ages (roughly 13-19) is the book's best strength and it's biggest weakness; their viewpoints are so limited.

I do think that Melamed dropped the ball when developing the theology of the island. The details are too sparse (you could argue the limited perspective problem here but I don't think so) and it doesn't seem to be fully integrated into people's daily lives. Also, I was not here for (view spoiler)[Vanessa's father's redemption arc (hide spoiler)].

Very interesting concept but very dark and disturbing.

Lauren Wightman

GATHER THE DAUGHTERS is a haunting story of an isolated island cult for fans of THE HANDMAID'S TALE, THE GIRLS and THE POWER. 'An intriguing, gorgeously realised and written novel which inexorably draws you into its dark heart' Kate Hamer On a small isolated island, there's a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day reign inside and outside the home, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood. But before that time comes, there is an island ritual that offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps to roam wild: they run, they fight, they sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. They are free. It is at the end of one of these summers, as the first frost laces the ground, that one of the younger girls witnesses something she was never supposed to see. And she returns home, muddy and terrified, clutching in her small hand a truth that could unravel their carefully constructed island world forever.

Beatriz Pereira

I really loved the book and the story line. It was kinda hard to keep up with the characters but that's always something hard for me so it's the usual. Sometimes it was slow passed but other times it hooked me to know more and more. A little disappointed about the ending? Idk kinda expected something with more closure or with more opening to a sequel? Wish to see this turned to a TV show like the handmaids tale.

Jenna

I read Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed a few weeks ago while we were on vacation. Somehow, it was the perfect vacation read. When I first heard about this book, I wasn't super motivated to read it. I packed it on a whim after Little Brown sent it to me and I'm really glad I did! This book really worked for me.

Gather the Daughters takes place on an island after some post-apocalyptic event happens in the US that forces everyone to flee. On the island, everyone has a role, and once someone's role is finished - so, they get to old to be useful - they take the "final draft" and die. Only the wanderers, a group of apparent chosen men, are allowed to venture back to the old mainland via ferry for supplies. The islanders believe that the mainland is desolate and everyone left behind is suffering. The role of women is to get married and have children as soon as they're able. Daughters are forced to marry when they're still very young. Oh, and this book comes with a warning: it alludes to both child abuse and incest. 

The island has a tradition in the summer of allowing the children to roam completely free. No school, no rules, and a summer of adventure and fun. However, the girls know that as soon as they start their period, there will be no more summers for them, no matter how young they are.

This book follows the stories of girls on the island. Vanessa's father is a wanderer who allows her to read books. Janey Solomon doesn't eat in an attempt to stop herself from reaching "fruition". Caitlin is a bit of an outsider. Amanda reaches her summer of fruition before her best friend Janey.

As the girls near their final summers of childhood, they start to unravel the mysteries and secrets of the island. If the mainland is a wasteland, how can the wanderers find supplies from there? They suspect something more sinister is happening and will go to great lengths to find out.

This book reminded me of The Handmaid's Tale with slightly less of that Margaret Atwood expertise, but I really enjoyed it. I was rooting for the girls and wanted to find out the truth along with them. If you like dystopias, I would highly recommend this book.

Kristen Claiborn

Emily Perkovich

Kathy Rodger 

Amy Maddess

Imie Kent-Muller

Elizabeth Garza

Corine Booij

This dark, unsettling and hugely compelling story of an isolated island cult will get under your skin. On a small isolated island, there's a community that lives by its own rules. Boys grow up knowing they will one day reign inside and outside the home, while girls know they will be married and pregnant within moments of hitting womanhood. But before that time comes, there is an island ritual that offers children an exhilarating reprieve. Every summer they are turned out onto their doorsteps to roam wild: they run, they fight, they sleep on the beach and build camps in trees. They are free. It is at the end of one of these summers, as the first frost laces the ground, that one of the younger girls witnesses something she was never supposed to see. And she returns home, muddy and terrified, clutching in her small hand a truth that could unravel their carefully constructed island world forever.

Gather the Daughters A Novel

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