A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor

For the first time, I was afraid we’d die on this shore. 

A Map for Wrecked Girls navigates the tempestuous relationship between two sisters, Henri and Emma. Although there is a plot background this is more of a character driven story. The setting and disastrous events that occur take a back seat.

I won’t let you fall.

I hardly noticed that they weren’t physically in a safe place because the focus is all on the head games and emotions of the sisters and the unfortunate boy who happened to be trapped with them. I wonder what his POV would sound like and how different the story would be if we knew what he was really thinking! Was he really necessary to the story? Many bloggers have mentioned they think he was not, but I think an additional character was necessary. My reason is spoilery so come back and visit once you’ve read the book.

Spoiler Alert!

I didn’t know how to stay with her, and I didn’t know how to leave her behind.

Alternating between the past and the present, told only from the perspective of the younger sibling, the sister’s pretty toxic relationship is revealed. The flashbacks allow us to see how this relationship, exacerbated by family events, exploded out of all proportion.

I’d trusted Henri more than I’d trusted myself. Wherever she told me to go, I’d follow.

The growth of the sisters as characters and their relationship is what kept the story going. In particular, Emma (who I was rooting for) had the most to reflect on. I struggled with Henri as a character, feeling as though I couldn’t get a sense of her and what I did get I didn’t like.

We were no longer flesh and blood.

I don’t usually like survivor / deserted island storylines and was skeptical going in. But in this case, it is nothing more than a background which I find rather disturbing. The physical and emotional strain they endure as a result of the shipwreck came across as no worse than a week without pudding and the loss of an old, disliked T-shirt.

We sat at the edge of the ocean – my sister, Henri and I – inches apart but not touching at all.

Title:A Map for Wrecked Girls

Author: Jessica Taylor

Publication Date: 15 August 2017

Publisher: Dial Books

Source: Purchased

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Emma had always orbited Henri, her fierce, magnetic queen bee of an older sister, and the two had always been best friends. Until something happened that wrecked them.

Then the unthinkable occurs—a watery nightmare off the dazzling coast. The girls wash up on shore, stranded. Their only companion is Alex, a troubled boy agonizing over his own secrets. Trapped in this gorgeous hell, Emma and Alex fall together as Emma and Henri fall catastrophically apart.

To find their way home, the sisters must find their way back to each other. But there’s no map for this—or anything. Can they survive the unearthing of the past and the upheaval of the present?  — Abstract from Goodreads.com