Agnes at the End of the World
5 Stars
Agnes has been raised in Red Creek her entire life. Following all the rules and trying to be perfectly obedient so her faith with be perfect. She spends her days caring for her family in a motherly role knowing one day she will be married off to a patriarch and start a family of her own. But her love for her siblings has made her willing to anything. This love has given her a secret that if anyone found out would end her world as she knows it. She goes monthly to receive medicine that helps save her brothers life. Medicine that according to her prophet isn’t needed because illness can be prayed away.
Beth has also been raised in Red Creek. But where her sister Agnes truly believes in the world she has been told to be true, Beth has the willingness to question it. She kisses boys and does little things to rebel against the long list of rules she has been forced to follow.
The two sisters have no idea what lies outside of Red Creek. A terrible virus has been spreading. Affecting first the animals and then the people in the world outside there tiny piece of land. Their skin turns hard like crystal, bright red with sharp points to pass along the infection. When a young boy named Danny comes to bring the medicine her brother needs to Agnes he tells her about the world outside her secluded life. He keeps a phone and the world of the outsiders is revealed to her. She realizes she might be able to have a different life, a better life. But her family and her faith keep might keep her where she is.
While reading this I had a feeling it was very similar to the FLDS religion. I was surprised to hear the authors note that it was actually based on FLDS. I listened to this one and I loved the narrator (Brittany Pressley is one of my favorites), it kept me in the story the entire time and I had a hard time pausing it to do anything. The only thing that lost me was the end part of the book. I understood that an emphasis on God was going to play a part but I felt like the ending was slightly rushed. But it didn't impact my love for this title at all.