A Girl Like Trudy

Synopsis

"Her fear was now so acute that her thoughts had telescoped and narrowed into this one aim: leaving. She would rather die of starvation in the bush than the alternative. The Cain's farm did indeed abut onto a large tract of bushland, dry mallee scrub, flat and featureless as far as Trudy knew, though she had never been into it... She never knew that it was a place of beauty in the springtime when the wildflowers were out, and orchids, bachelor's buttons, dog's ears, everlasting daisies and many other varieties bloomed extravagantly and with abandon."Fifteen-year-old Trudy is an outsider, shunned by her peers at school, over-worked at home on their isolated farm by her brutal, adoptive father, and harassed by his three uncouth sons. The Cains always expect the worst, but Trudy has a different way of thinking. She never loses hope that someday things will be different. She has her dreams, and she has her faith, fostered by the discovery of an old hymnal in her attic bedroom. The treasures it contains help her cope with the privations she endures and reassure her that God has not forgotten her.Trudy's life is hard, and now a new threat begins to loom over her when the eldest boy begins to behave in a way that makes her not only uncomfortable but deeply afraid. Escape seems impossible, until she is badly injured and a young man called Daniel comes to her rescue. A doorway gradually opens to all the things she has most wanted, but despite the happiness she begins to feel, her trials are not yet over and danger waits in the most pleasant surroundings. If ever a girl needs a hero, it is A Girl Like Trudy.This is a book about changes and second chances, but not for Trudy only... Despite its sombre start, this is an uplifting book, with a very satisfying conclusion, and more than a grain of truth about the fate of many orphans adopted out in the time when this book is set.