Name: The Only Girl in the World
ISBN: 9781786071361

Maude Julien

For readers of Damaged and Running with Scissors, a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape. Maude still remembers the sound of the gate being locked behind her. She was three years old when they moved into the secluded manor and in the coming years, she would only be allowed out a handful of times. Her parents belonged to a fanatical Masonic order. She followed a strict schedule of study, hard labour and endless drills designed to ‘eliminate weakness’, such as holding an electric fence without flinching and sitting in a rat-infested cellar. But despite their chilling psychological control, her parents could not control her inner life. Befriending animals on the lonely estate and characters in the books she read, Maude nurtured in herself the compassion and love her parents forbade.

A Memoir

The Only Girl in the World

Ursula Gauthier

• The most astonishing and uplifting memoir you’ll read this year. Raised in isolation, trained to be immune to torture and shock, Maude Julien had to find the strength to escape her own parents • As a child Julien experienced years of abuse at the hands of her father, who believed that by submitting her to tests of endurance he could turn his daughter into a "superhuman" • Julien was trained to hold an electric fence without flinching, was subjected to complete silence for weeks on end, was forced to become proficient in dozens of musical instruments and was regularly locked in a dark basement with only the rats to keep her company. What makes her account even more extraordinary is the fact that her mother had been her father's adopted daughter: he had indoctrinated his adopted child, then married her with the aim of fathering a perfect being • Maude's innocence, strong-mindedness and optimism throughout her traumatic upbringing provide an inspiring testament to the resilience of the human spirit. The tone of this book is joyful, and it's so pageturning it reads like a novel • ‘This is not the umpteenth book about a miraculously saved victim. It is much more, and much better.’ Le Journal de Dimanche • Today, Maude Julien is a psychologist specialising in manipulation. She remains committed to ensuring appropriate care and rehabilitation is afforded to those who have faced similar traumas. She has also spent years in Australia conducting anthropological research among Indigenous people • Text acquired ANZ rights to The Only Girl in the World in a competitive international auction. A bestseller in France, Julien's compelling memoir has now sold in multiple territories • This memorable, uplifting work of autobiography will be the subject of a strong publicity and marketing campaign from Text.

What an awful plot, this poor girl. The story telling was amazing, but I can’t get over how horrible of a life this poor girl lived. My heart breaks! 

Kyra Cracchiola

kate humphreys 

This is one of those stories that reminds me of how incredibly lucky I am to live the life that I do. Maude’s story definitely won’t leave me anytime soon and I’m very glad to have been able to read her story.

Mathias Hellsing

A very lonely young girl,
Living alone with her parents and animals,
With a very abrupt ending.

For readers of Room and The Glass Castle, a memoir to be read in one breathless sitting that will leave you astonished by the courage and creative power of even the most neglected soul. Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor - raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." Maude learned to hold an electric fence for minutes without flinching, and to sit perfectly still in a rat-infested cellar all night long (her mother sewed bells onto her clothes that would give her away if she moved). She endured a life without heat, hot water, adequate food, friendship, or any kind of affectionate treatment. But Maude's parents could not rule her inner life. Befriending the animals on the lonely estate as well as the characters in the novels she read in secret, young Maude nurtured in herself the compassion and love that her parents forbid as weak. And when, after more than a decade, an outsider managed to penetrate her family's paranoid world, Maude seized her opportunity. By turns horrifying and magical, The Only Girl in the World is a story that will grip you from the first page and leave you spellbound, a chilling exploration of psychological control that ends with a glorious escape.

The Only Girl in the World A Memoir

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