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Stealing
A gripping, gut-punch of a novel about a Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s—an ambitious, eye-opening reckoning of history and small-town prejudices from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble.
Since her mother’s death, Kit Crockett has lived with her grief-stricken father, spending lonely days far out in the country tending the garden, fishing in a local stream, and reading Nancy Drew mysteries from the library bookmobile. One day when Kit discovers a mysterious and beautiful woman has moved in just down the road, she is intrigued.
Kit and her new neighbor Bella become fast friends. Both outsiders, they take comfort in each other’s company. But malice lurks near their quiet bayou and Kit suddenly finds herself at the center of tragic, fatal crime. Soon, Kit is ripped from her home and Cherokee family and sent to Ashley Lordard, a religious boarding school. Along with the other Native students, Kit is stripped of her heritage, force-fed Christian indoctrination, and is sexually abused by the director. But Kit, as strong-willed and shrewd as ever, secretly keeps a journal recounting what she remembers—and revealing just what she has forgotten. Over the course of Stealing, she slowly unravels the truth of how she ended up at the school—and plots a way out.
In swift, sharp, and stunning prose, Margaret Verble spins a powerful coming-of age tale and reaffirms her place as an indelible storyteller and chronicler of history.
Since her mother’s death, Kit Crockett has lived with her grief-stricken father, spending lonely days far out in the country tending the garden, fishing in a local stream, and reading Nancy Drew mysteries from the library bookmobile. One day when Kit discovers a mysterious and beautiful woman has moved in just down the road, she is intrigued.
Kit and her new neighbor Bella become fast friends. Both outsiders, they take comfort in each other’s company. But malice lurks near their quiet bayou and Kit suddenly finds herself at the center of tragic, fatal crime. Soon, Kit is ripped from her home and Cherokee family and sent to Ashley Lordard, a religious boarding school. Along with the other Native students, Kit is stripped of her heritage, force-fed Christian indoctrination, and is sexually abused by the director. But Kit, as strong-willed and shrewd as ever, secretly keeps a journal recounting what she remembers—and revealing just what she has forgotten. Over the course of Stealing, she slowly unravels the truth of how she ended up at the school—and plots a way out.
In swift, sharp, and stunning prose, Margaret Verble spins a powerful coming-of age tale and reaffirms her place as an indelible storyteller and chronicler of history.
238 pages, Hardcover
First published February 7, 2023
About the author
Margaret Verble
5 books303 followersMargaret Verble, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, has set her novel on her family’s Indian allotment land near Ft. Gibson, OK. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.
Verble is a successful business woman and novelist. Her consulting work has taken her to most states and to several foreign countries. Upon the publication of her debut novel, Maud’s Line, Margaret whittled her consulting practice down to one group of clients, organ procurement organizations, tissue banks, and eye banks, to devote the rest of her time to writing. Maud’s Line is a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Verble is a successful business woman and novelist. Her consulting work has taken her to most states and to several foreign countries. Upon the publication of her debut novel, Maud’s Line, Margaret whittled her consulting practice down to one group of clients, organ procurement organizations, tissue banks, and eye banks, to devote the rest of her time to writing. Maud’s Line is a Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 446 reviews
February 7, 2023
Happy Publication Day! - February 07, 2023
4.5⭐
“But a lot of the girls here have already given up. You can see it in their eyes and their shoulders. But not me. I’m not going to be that fence standing alone out in the field, so I don’t give up hope. That would be against my nature. I am descended from people who survived the Trail of Tears.”
It has been over two years since Karen "Kit" Crockett was forcibly sent to The Ashley Lordard Children’s Home. After her mother’s demise Kit was being by her father who though a bit distant was never unkind to her. Close to her late mother’s Cherokee family, Kit had a caring and loving group of relatives who also looked out for her. Her days were spent attending school in town, roaming the countryside, fishing in the bayou, and reading Nancy Drew books borrowed from the bookmobile. When an enigmatic young woman named Bella moves into her late great uncle’s home nearby, Kit makes a new friend. But Kit’s closeness to Bella triggers an unfortunate sequence of events that ultimately lands her father in jail.
Kit is torn away from her family and eventually sent to a Christian boarding school at the age of nine for her education, a Christian upbringing and “good moral values”. At her new school, she meets other children from Native American families and along with them she is forced to shed her heritage and is subjected to ill-treatment, abuse and forced religious indoctrination. In other words, her life as she had known it was being “stolen” from her.
“And we’re told stories about how even little children are naturally evil and about how we’re all born with some sort of sin that has to get washed off of us. But I think the kids here are mean because they’re unhappy. They probably came here unhappy, and being in a children’s home doesn’t improve on that. But, in my experience, grown-ups are a lot meaner than kids.”
Kit begins writing about the events leading up to her father’s trial and subsequent incarceration, and her experiences as a student and boarder at Ashley Lordard in her journal, all the while devising a plan to find a way to return to her family. She hopes to reveal the truth about what goes on in the school and the abuse she is frequently subject to in the hands of Mr. Hodges, the Director whose idea of dealing with a “disciplinary situation” translates into sexually abusing minor girls, mostly targeting those from Native American backgrounds, a fact another victim shares with Kit.
Narrated in the first person, Stealing by Margaret Verble is a compelling read. The author brilliantly captures Kit’s innocence, inquisitiveness, confusion, pain and determination. This is an absorbing read and I found it hard to put down. Set in the 1950s, the story sheds a light on the plight of Native American children who were forcibly sent to boarding schools and compelled to abandon their Native identity and culture. Kit is an endearing protagonist and I was immersed in her world as seen through her eyes. I loved the author’s vivid description of the countryside and Kit’s closeness to nature. The author tackles sensitive themes such as religion, injustice, prejudice and sexual abuse with sensitivity and compassion. In turn, I felt heartbroken, angry and hopeful as I kept turning the pages all the while rooting for Kit. Overall, this is an impactful read that I would not hesitate to recommend.
Many thanks to Margaret Verble, Mariner Books and NetGalley for the eARC of this beautifully-written novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
⚠ Sexual abuse of a minor
February 8, 2023
In a Nutshell: A brilliant topic that the book does only some justice to. I would have loved this had it fulfilled the potential it had. The writing style didn’t make things easy. STRONG triggers for child sexual abuse.
Story Synopsis:
NOTE: If you want to read the book, don’t read the Goodreads blurb!
Where the book worked for me:
😍 A book about a Cherokee girl written by a Cherokee author. Representation well taken care of! I was surprised to discover how Native Americans also have their own prejudices about “Civilised Tribes” and “Wild Indians”.
😍 The first half of the story is much streamlined, despite the jumps in time.
😍 Many scenes between Bella and Kit won my heart. I also loved how Kit was written as an independent girl and her dad as an involved father. His portrayal helped beat the clichéd depiction of single dads in fiction who are usually either overprotective or abusive.
😍 The book throws a powerful spotlight on the forced (explicit or implicit) conversions of the indigenous natives to Christianity. Nothing is as heinous as treating fellow humans as less than oneself just because they believe in a different greater power. As a Christian, I find such scenes simultaneously depressing and infuriating, but that doesn't take away from the truth of the brutalities that have been wrought in the name of God and religion.
😍 This is the kind of book that will stay in your head long after the last page. The emotions and the concern for the character lingers in your head and heart.
Where the book left me with mixed feelings:
😐 Having Kit as the first person narrator sounds like a wonderful idea but ends up with a patchy result. I was initially reminded of Scout’s narration in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, where a child’s voice is put to brilliant use in bringing to us difficult social issues. Unfortunately, that promise fell by the wayside. Kit’s innocence helps us see things from a child’s perspective, thereby diluting some of the horrors (though not all of them.) However, she is an unreliable narrator through her habit of revealing only partial truths. There are so many things that could have been set right had Kit just opened her mouth at the right time. Moreover, her habit of random foreshadowing spoils many of the upcoming surprises and shocks.
😐 The child's voice isn't consistent. At first, I thought that because the book was written in flashback, the current age of the writer would give her added insights into her past. But this turned out to be the wrong assumption. There are many places where Kit spoke as a child would, but sometimes, she sounded like an adult. At times, she understood even complex words that most eleven-year-olds wouldn’t know, and at other times, she couldn’t understand a simpler word.
😐 The ending is somewhat open-ended. I think its interpretation will be quite dependent on readers, as to whether they want to consider it hopeful or abrupt. To my eyes, it felt very uncertain as we don’t even come to know who was reading Kit’s journals.
Where the book could have worked better for me:
😓 The blurb promised me a book about an Indian girl who has been removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school. As such, I had assumed the child’s life at school to be the primary focus of the book. But somehow, the school takes a secondary place, with the main focus being on Kit’s flashbacks. There is no smooth transition between her home life to her boarding days.
😓 Kit has a habit of going off into tangents in her journal. She jumps around from topic to topic and branches out even in between a memory. This might be authentic to how we speak in real life, but it sure makes comprehension difficult while reading. The book isn’t easy reading because of this creative decision.
😓 There is no time reference in the content. Had the blurb not mentioned the time period as being the 1950s, I wouldn’t have known where the place the story except that it would have been historical in some way.
😓 Whoever wrote the Goodreads blurb misunderstood the assignment big time. What we have in that section isn’t a blurb but a summary of THE ENTIRE BOOK, including the ending. What the heck!
😓 This might not be an issue for all readers, but the details of the sexual abuse were much beyond my tolerance level. Child sexual abuse is a strong trigger for me, and this book went into too much detail. I had to compel myself to continue through those scenes. Also, the graphic nature caught me unawares because up until that point, the writing had been pretty tame.
I floundered with my rating for a long time. After all, how can one not recommend a book that sheds light on such a horrifying part of history? However, every published work needs to be rated as a book and not for its theme alone. The content covers a difficult and relevant topic, so the intent deserves 5 stars. But the haphazard writing, especially in the second half, and the greater stress on Kit’s personal thoughts than on the events in the boarding school left me somewhat dissatisfied. I’d still recommend it, but mainly for the thought behind the words.
3.25 stars.
My thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Stealing”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
———————————————
This was a buddy read with Srivalli, and the first of our buddy reads to evoke mixed feelings in both of us. Do check out her review as well.
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Story Synopsis:
Kit Crockett, a Cherokee child, is currently living in a Christian boarding school. Through her secret journal, she tells us about her past and her present.
About four years ago, Kit was living with her father. Her mother having recently died, Kit and her father, though close, struggled to communicate through their grief. Kit’s new neighbour Bella ends up becoming a strong supportive figure in the young girl’s life.
How did the circumstances change such that Kit ended up in the boarding school all alone?
The book comes to us in the first person perspective of Kit, through her journal entries.
NOTE: If you want to read the book, don’t read the Goodreads blurb!
Where the book worked for me:
😍 A book about a Cherokee girl written by a Cherokee author. Representation well taken care of! I was surprised to discover how Native Americans also have their own prejudices about “Civilised Tribes” and “Wild Indians”.
😍 The first half of the story is much streamlined, despite the jumps in time.
😍 Many scenes between Bella and Kit won my heart. I also loved how Kit was written as an independent girl and her dad as an involved father. His portrayal helped beat the clichéd depiction of single dads in fiction who are usually either overprotective or abusive.
😍 The book throws a powerful spotlight on the forced (explicit or implicit) conversions of the indigenous natives to Christianity. Nothing is as heinous as treating fellow humans as less than oneself just because they believe in a different greater power. As a Christian, I find such scenes simultaneously depressing and infuriating, but that doesn't take away from the truth of the brutalities that have been wrought in the name of God and religion.
😍 This is the kind of book that will stay in your head long after the last page. The emotions and the concern for the character lingers in your head and heart.
Where the book left me with mixed feelings:
😐 Having Kit as the first person narrator sounds like a wonderful idea but ends up with a patchy result. I was initially reminded of Scout’s narration in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, where a child’s voice is put to brilliant use in bringing to us difficult social issues. Unfortunately, that promise fell by the wayside. Kit’s innocence helps us see things from a child’s perspective, thereby diluting some of the horrors (though not all of them.) However, she is an unreliable narrator through her habit of revealing only partial truths. There are so many things that could have been set right had Kit just opened her mouth at the right time. Moreover, her habit of random foreshadowing spoils many of the upcoming surprises and shocks.
😐 The child's voice isn't consistent. At first, I thought that because the book was written in flashback, the current age of the writer would give her added insights into her past. But this turned out to be the wrong assumption. There are many places where Kit spoke as a child would, but sometimes, she sounded like an adult. At times, she understood even complex words that most eleven-year-olds wouldn’t know, and at other times, she couldn’t understand a simpler word.
😐 The ending is somewhat open-ended. I think its interpretation will be quite dependent on readers, as to whether they want to consider it hopeful or abrupt. To my eyes, it felt very uncertain as we don’t even come to know who was reading Kit’s journals.
Where the book could have worked better for me:
😓 The blurb promised me a book about an Indian girl who has been removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school. As such, I had assumed the child’s life at school to be the primary focus of the book. But somehow, the school takes a secondary place, with the main focus being on Kit’s flashbacks. There is no smooth transition between her home life to her boarding days.
😓 Kit has a habit of going off into tangents in her journal. She jumps around from topic to topic and branches out even in between a memory. This might be authentic to how we speak in real life, but it sure makes comprehension difficult while reading. The book isn’t easy reading because of this creative decision.
😓 There is no time reference in the content. Had the blurb not mentioned the time period as being the 1950s, I wouldn’t have known where the place the story except that it would have been historical in some way.
😓 Whoever wrote the Goodreads blurb misunderstood the assignment big time. What we have in that section isn’t a blurb but a summary of THE ENTIRE BOOK, including the ending. What the heck!
😓 This might not be an issue for all readers, but the details of the sexual abuse were much beyond my tolerance level. Child sexual abuse is a strong trigger for me, and this book went into too much detail. I had to compel myself to continue through those scenes. Also, the graphic nature caught me unawares because up until that point, the writing had been pretty tame.
I floundered with my rating for a long time. After all, how can one not recommend a book that sheds light on such a horrifying part of history? However, every published work needs to be rated as a book and not for its theme alone. The content covers a difficult and relevant topic, so the intent deserves 5 stars. But the haphazard writing, especially in the second half, and the greater stress on Kit’s personal thoughts than on the events in the boarding school left me somewhat dissatisfied. I’d still recommend it, but mainly for the thought behind the words.
3.25 stars.
My thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the DRC of “Stealing”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
———————————————
This was a buddy read with Srivalli, and the first of our buddy reads to evoke mixed feelings in both of us. Do check out her review as well.
———————————————
Connect with me through:
My Blog | The StoryGraph | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
March 11, 2023
3.5 stars
“Stealing” by Margaret Verble is the story of a young Cherokee girl whose life is stolen by Christian do-gooders in the 1950’s. Verble illuminates the prejudiced thinking that further harmed a struggling minority. She shows the atrocities committed against indigenous children in Christian Boarding Schools.
Verble chooses the first-person narrative for our young and plunky protagonists, Kit Crockett. Kit is an entertaining kid with clever nonstop inner musings. Horrible things happen to Kit, and without her optimism and tenacity, this would be a difficult read. Verble shows how easy it was for institutions, such as the church, to take children from parents.
Because Kit drives the story and the narration, we get a bird’s eye perspective of a young child who doesn’t understand the adult world. We also see how frustrating it is to be a child when the adults around you don’t seem to have your well-being in mind.
Kit is being raised by her white father after her Cherokee mother dies of cancer. A nosy neighbor manipulates an event which sends Kit’s life into chaos. The overriding prejudice in the 1950’s allowed the systems that should have protected Kit to cause even more harm.
This is a wonderful period piece that tells the story of an ugly time in the United States. I enjoyed Verble’s delivery system for her message!
“Stealing” by Margaret Verble is the story of a young Cherokee girl whose life is stolen by Christian do-gooders in the 1950’s. Verble illuminates the prejudiced thinking that further harmed a struggling minority. She shows the atrocities committed against indigenous children in Christian Boarding Schools.
Verble chooses the first-person narrative for our young and plunky protagonists, Kit Crockett. Kit is an entertaining kid with clever nonstop inner musings. Horrible things happen to Kit, and without her optimism and tenacity, this would be a difficult read. Verble shows how easy it was for institutions, such as the church, to take children from parents.
Because Kit drives the story and the narration, we get a bird’s eye perspective of a young child who doesn’t understand the adult world. We also see how frustrating it is to be a child when the adults around you don’t seem to have your well-being in mind.
Kit is being raised by her white father after her Cherokee mother dies of cancer. A nosy neighbor manipulates an event which sends Kit’s life into chaos. The overriding prejudice in the 1950’s allowed the systems that should have protected Kit to cause even more harm.
This is a wonderful period piece that tells the story of an ugly time in the United States. I enjoyed Verble’s delivery system for her message!
October 26, 2022
This is the first of Margaret Verble’s books I’ve read, although I have a few of her others on my to-read list. It is a heartbreaking story, but shared through the eyes of Kit Crockett, a young Cherokee girl whose life has been filled with an appreciation of nature, and a love of her father, and family.
’Mama always called the cabin “the cabin.” It was really more like a shack, but “shack” isn’t a good word to describe where people live, particularly if they happen to be your kin. So when my great uncle Joe lived there, Mama said it was Uncle Joe’s cabin. And when he was killed, I still said it was Uncle Joe’s cabin for a while, because I didn’t forget him just because he was dead.’
Both Kit and her father are still grieving the loss of her mother, although Kit seems to find her solace in fishing or reading the Nancy Drew books she gets from the library, and the nature that surrounds her. For a young girl, she is very savvy about the habits of snakes, knowing that some are more dangerous than others and which are the ones to look out for. Her father, on the other hand, quietly goes through his days as though with every breath brings with it a memory of his wife.
As this begins, Kit decides to go fishing near what used to be Uncle Joe’s Cabin, hoping to cross paths with a dog along the way, and returns again the following weekend and after several return trips with a different car parked there each time, but always a bottle of liquor left on the porch, she realizes it is a woman living there named Bella.
’...what struck me about her at first sighting, beyond just the way she was standing there with her hand on her hope and her head cocked like she was waiting for me, was that she had the prettiest hair I’d ever seen.’
Bella befriends her, and enjoy each other’s company. Kit offering some of the fish she caught, and Bella offering food and something to drink. They typically spend time sitting and chatting on the front porch, and a sense of trust and friendship grows between them.
Themes of religion, of others basically forcing religion on her are woven through this story, as well as the mistreatment of specific groups of people on several levels, including sexual abuse, along with a court trial. These previously ‘hidden stories,’ including Kit’s, are slowly revealed, some through Kit’s secret thoughts that she’s shared in her diary, while others are part of the drama of the trial in the court.
A story that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, beautifully shared through Margaret Verble’s simple, but lovely prose and a heartfelt compassion, this is one I will not soon forget.
Pub Date: 07 Feb 2023
Many thanks for the ARC provided by Mariner Books
August 12, 2024
This one was bleak as all get outs in a way that felt very much like it was a true story. It was particularly devastating because the POV was that of a child which sounded convincingly like an actual child and it was easy to forget that she wasn't real.
August 6, 2023
This is a perfectly brilliant book. It is the story of a young girl with Cherokee heritage who, not long after her mother had died, was taken from her father and put in a terrifying boarding school/orphanage to be “corrected”. The story is told by the girl herself and amongst the book’s many great qualities, Margaret Verble has as astonishing talent not only for telling the story with all of the candor and wide-eyed honesty of a child, but also a masterful use of the language of a child. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and can recommend it to anyone who genuinely enjoys what I can best describe plainly and simply as a very good book.
December 8, 2022
So much was stolen: Land. Language. Names/Identity. Culture. History. Heritage. Tradition. Family. Lives. Innocence. Freedom.
Karen “Kit” Crockett, is a sweet, innocent (and very smart) girl who gets caught up in a small town scandal involving her hardworking, war-hero father and two neighbors: an elderly busybody, and an independent, misunderstood (and very attractive) young woman. The story is captured in the pages of Kit’s journal; so the reader gets her account of the events that led up to her court-ordered placement in an overbearing, abusive, racist Christian boarding school instead of with her loving family.
The events at the school echo recent headlines regarding the mistreatment and cultural genocide of indigenous children in Canada and the US that forcibly removed children from their parents by the government for the purposes of forced assimilation and conversion to Christianity. Many were physically and sexually abused; many never returned home.
What I loved is the wisdom bestowed to young Kit from the limited time she had with her parents, grandparents. She used the knowledge that she’s a descendant of The Trail of Tears survivors as inspiration to propel her through difficult times by simply putting one foot in front of the other while focusing on the horizon; to practice patience to wait for the right time to strike (ancient hunting techniques), and other tribal nuggets she cleverly applies to navigate daily abuses, and plan her escape. Along the way, her reflections and observations bring into focus how children see, hear, and process racism, inequality, double-standards, and hypocrisy. Well Done!!
Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.
Karen “Kit” Crockett, is a sweet, innocent (and very smart) girl who gets caught up in a small town scandal involving her hardworking, war-hero father and two neighbors: an elderly busybody, and an independent, misunderstood (and very attractive) young woman. The story is captured in the pages of Kit’s journal; so the reader gets her account of the events that led up to her court-ordered placement in an overbearing, abusive, racist Christian boarding school instead of with her loving family.
The events at the school echo recent headlines regarding the mistreatment and cultural genocide of indigenous children in Canada and the US that forcibly removed children from their parents by the government for the purposes of forced assimilation and conversion to Christianity. Many were physically and sexually abused; many never returned home.
What I loved is the wisdom bestowed to young Kit from the limited time she had with her parents, grandparents. She used the knowledge that she’s a descendant of The Trail of Tears survivors as inspiration to propel her through difficult times by simply putting one foot in front of the other while focusing on the horizon; to practice patience to wait for the right time to strike (ancient hunting techniques), and other tribal nuggets she cleverly applies to navigate daily abuses, and plan her escape. Along the way, her reflections and observations bring into focus how children see, hear, and process racism, inequality, double-standards, and hypocrisy. Well Done!!
Thanks to the publisher, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for an opportunity to review.
February 19, 2023
This is the heartbreaking story of a young Cherokee girl who is ripped from her family and sent to a boarding school back in the 1950s, when the government did such unconscionable things. This is a story of will, survival, and holding onto your heritage. The character development, especially of Kit, is amazing. The hypocrisy of ripping a child from a loving family and putting them in harm's way is taken straight from real-life situations that occurred back then. I would recommend this to anyone interested in Cherokee history and the history of removal of Native American children that occurred in the U.S. and Canada.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is volluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is volluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
March 25, 2024
3.5 stars
I felt this was a 4 or 4.5 star book right up to the ending. But I really didn't like how it ended. I felt that nothing was solved and the status quo remained the same. So therefore I gave it a lessor rating.
This is the story of a young Indian girl - Cherokee - that ends up sent to a boarding school and what happens to her there. No one listened to her and although she had family no one fought very hard for her. It is written from her point of view - that of a nine year old - so it does meander every once in a while.
I felt that there were too many threads that were really not tied up in the ending and she was left in the same situation she was in through most of the book. It left me wondering about way too much.
I felt this was a 4 or 4.5 star book right up to the ending. But I really didn't like how it ended. I felt that nothing was solved and the status quo remained the same. So therefore I gave it a lessor rating.
This is the story of a young Indian girl - Cherokee - that ends up sent to a boarding school and what happens to her there. No one listened to her and although she had family no one fought very hard for her. It is written from her point of view - that of a nine year old - so it does meander every once in a while.
I felt that there were too many threads that were really not tied up in the ending and she was left in the same situation she was in through most of the book. It left me wondering about way too much.
July 24, 2023
100%, a 5 star book!
February 11, 2023
Thanks to @marinerbooks for an ARC of #Stealing.
𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 by Margaret Verble was not always an easy book to read. Not because it wasn’t well written, because it certainly was, but because the life of its young protagonist, Kit Crockett, was so difficult, so unfair. In it, Kit is secretly recording her own story from a “Christian” boarding school where she was sent when it was deemed her Cherokee relatives weren’t fit to care for her. It’s the 1950’s when such decisions were the norm.
Kit’s storytelling rings clear and fully embodies the intelligent voice of a 12-year old girl who’s already seen more in life than many adults. She lost her mother at 7, deeply loves her father, but he’s so deep in his own grief that he has little left for her. When a new woman moves in a house down the road, Kit is fascinated, quickly ingratiates herself and the two become friends. What might have been simple becomes complex and Kit’s life is fully upended.
I thought 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 was a wonderful character-driven novel and I truly loved the voice of Kit. My heart also broke for her, as will any reader’s. I don’t usually do warnings, but want to be clear that Kit faces situations no girl should ever have to endure. Those parts were tough, but I also loved her resilience and determination to live the life she wanted to live and not the one forced on her by those who called themselves Christians. This was an excellent, thought-provoking coming-of-age story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 by Margaret Verble was not always an easy book to read. Not because it wasn’t well written, because it certainly was, but because the life of its young protagonist, Kit Crockett, was so difficult, so unfair. In it, Kit is secretly recording her own story from a “Christian” boarding school where she was sent when it was deemed her Cherokee relatives weren’t fit to care for her. It’s the 1950’s when such decisions were the norm.
Kit’s storytelling rings clear and fully embodies the intelligent voice of a 12-year old girl who’s already seen more in life than many adults. She lost her mother at 7, deeply loves her father, but he’s so deep in his own grief that he has little left for her. When a new woman moves in a house down the road, Kit is fascinated, quickly ingratiates herself and the two become friends. What might have been simple becomes complex and Kit’s life is fully upended.
I thought 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 was a wonderful character-driven novel and I truly loved the voice of Kit. My heart also broke for her, as will any reader’s. I don’t usually do warnings, but want to be clear that Kit faces situations no girl should ever have to endure. Those parts were tough, but I also loved her resilience and determination to live the life she wanted to live and not the one forced on her by those who called themselves Christians. This was an excellent, thought-provoking coming-of-age story. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 26, 2023
Another best of for the year. I think I’m getting better at picking my books and not finishing the ones I don’t care for.
I don’t usually start with the author but a word must be said for Margaret Verble. She’s not getting enough attention. Ms. Verble is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She tells the story of Kit Crockett - a Cherokee child growing up in the Eisenhower years in Kentucky that lost her mother in her early elementary years. The voice of Kit Crockett is one of the best child narrations I’ve ever read.
Kit’s Cherokee family is strong and supportive of her yet helpless against the strong White Voices in their town.
The relationship between Kit and her Father one of the best I’ve read too.
Kit’s bookmobile and love of reading brought me straight back to my childhood.
Her life after losing her mother is very reminiscent of when I lost my dad including all of the adults that wanted to jump in and help but really did nothing more than make it worse.
Most importantly the men of cloth, preachers, that wanted to bring Christianity to a family that did not participate in Christianity was so spot on that I thought I was reading my own story. This book is worth the read if only for the observations of evangelicalism.
There is so much love for family in these pages.
I don’t usually start with the author but a word must be said for Margaret Verble. She’s not getting enough attention. Ms. Verble is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She tells the story of Kit Crockett - a Cherokee child growing up in the Eisenhower years in Kentucky that lost her mother in her early elementary years. The voice of Kit Crockett is one of the best child narrations I’ve ever read.
Kit’s Cherokee family is strong and supportive of her yet helpless against the strong White Voices in their town.
The relationship between Kit and her Father one of the best I’ve read too.
Kit’s bookmobile and love of reading brought me straight back to my childhood.
Her life after losing her mother is very reminiscent of when I lost my dad including all of the adults that wanted to jump in and help but really did nothing more than make it worse.
Most importantly the men of cloth, preachers, that wanted to bring Christianity to a family that did not participate in Christianity was so spot on that I thought I was reading my own story. This book is worth the read if only for the observations of evangelicalism.
There is so much love for family in these pages.
January 9, 2023
This book was so good but sad but beautiful at the same time. I really liked this book. I cannot wait for this book to be released. I’m going to add it to my private library and reread it again. Thank you to mariner books and netgalley for the early copy
December 29, 2022
A beautifully written book about a child who is mostly alone in an adult world and has little guidance to understand what is happening around her and to her. As it unfolds and the reader sees what has happened, the pure injustice of it all is almost painful to realize, but important to realize. It reminds me of To Kill A Mockingbird in that we really see the world through Kit's eyes and feel what she feels. The prose is wonderfully descriptive and I hope this book is widely read and discussed.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's an absolute winner!
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's an absolute winner!
March 21, 2023
Verble is an amazing storyteller! There were times throughout when this was a hard read, but it was central to the story. Kit is a character that will stay with me for awhile.
July 25, 2023
America's treatment of Native Americans throughout our history is sad and despicable. This book captures just a tiny segment of that mistreatment in the early 20th century and is convincingly told from the perspective of 9-year-old Kit. Kit reminds me of Scout Finch in her bare-bones, somewhat naive recounting of nasty people. There's also a foundation of love and care and family underneath this story which mitigates the horror. Make no mistake though; this story is sad and appropriately named. What has been stolen can never truly be given back.
February 22, 2023
See full review in the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: https://www.ajc.com/life/arts-culture...
Pulitzer-Prize finalist Margaret Verble’s fourth novel “Stealing” is an historical fiction about a young Cherokee girl in the Midwest who is removed from her family and placed in a residential school in the 1950s. Verble wrote this tender and eye-opening tale in 2007 but didn’t find a receptive audience until the First Nations boarding school scandal in Canada broke in 2021. With a fresh social context in place to frame her narrative, Verble has delivered a nuanced yet powerful examination of the impact of forced Christianity on the indigenous population. And what a story she tells.
Karen “Kit” Crockett narrates her own tale through a diary she’s writing while interned at the fictional Ashley Lordard Children’s Home. She weaves back and forth through time, starting at age 6 after the death of her mother and revealing how she came to be removed from her father’s custody at age 12. Instead of being sent to live with her Cherokee family, who are desperate to care for her, she’s placed in a boarding school so she can “get some education and good moral values...”
Pulitzer-Prize finalist Margaret Verble’s fourth novel “Stealing” is an historical fiction about a young Cherokee girl in the Midwest who is removed from her family and placed in a residential school in the 1950s. Verble wrote this tender and eye-opening tale in 2007 but didn’t find a receptive audience until the First Nations boarding school scandal in Canada broke in 2021. With a fresh social context in place to frame her narrative, Verble has delivered a nuanced yet powerful examination of the impact of forced Christianity on the indigenous population. And what a story she tells.
Karen “Kit” Crockett narrates her own tale through a diary she’s writing while interned at the fictional Ashley Lordard Children’s Home. She weaves back and forth through time, starting at age 6 after the death of her mother and revealing how she came to be removed from her father’s custody at age 12. Instead of being sent to live with her Cherokee family, who are desperate to care for her, she’s placed in a boarding school so she can “get some education and good moral values...”
October 12, 2023
This book punched me in the gut. Even more so, because the audiobook sounds like a child, like Kit, who is the narrator. Lots to unpack here, but definitely an author I want to read more from.
February 8, 2023
This is a moving novel about a child seeking love and comfort, and then ripped away by cruel people who want to abuse and control her. Because she’s Cherokee. The narrative, told by the child, Kit, goes into detail how she ended up in the “Christian” orphanage. There, she is heartbreakingly violated by the older, male director. All throughout, Kit is smart and works out a plan to survive. A well-written book, though at times the plot went back and forth in time that was a bit jolting.
March 31, 2023
The New York Times heaps praise on this book, saying the heroine belongs in the literary canon. I am reading this for a book club to which I belong and I wanted to love it. I believe that the situations at Indian schools (resettlement camps) were appalling and untenable in many cases for the Native American children. But I don't believe that every single person in power was a crazed religious zealot preying on children. Nor do I believe that all the people, especially other adults, who saw what was going on were too afraid to speak up. And therein lies the issues I have with this book. There is no gray area here. Every character is evil personified or a person with a heart of gold too afraid to stand up to the powers that be to stop any abuses or injustices, much less help victims. It is just too pat to be credible. And the ending is also too quickly (and happily) resolved to be believable. The protagonist is a likable young girl, but her reluctance to share information (even with the reader) gets annoying. I understand that victims are often reluctant to talk about things. But in a novel that is exposing these abuses, too much is left unsaid and I found that unsatisfying.
May 10, 2024
Loved this book and loved Kit, the MC. The book showed how native Americans were treated in the 50's and a peek at a boarding school and how mistreated children really were. Highly recommend this one.
July 26, 2023
A quick, compelling tale about Kit Crockett, a part Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950's. The author writes well; Kit is a marvel of a character! I liked this.
August 4, 2023
A story through the eyes of a child about cruelty to an entire population of Native American children. Kit is a fantastic narrator with the stream of consciousness that can only be matched by childhood thought. Heartwarming and heartbreaking. Some books aren’t easily forgotten, this is one. My first book by this author.
October 30, 2023
A slice of reality from the pages of the Native American experience, Stealing is told through the eyes of a young girl, 1952. Sound familiar? Maybe like Porch Music? But the young girl, Kit, who tells us her story in Stealing, is half-Cherokee.
So cleverly written, this book gives us more insight into the discrimination Native Americans have faced, the inequities, and the sorrow. It's easy to read and somewhat brief. Margaret Verble writes in a beautiful, authentic voice.
So cleverly written, this book gives us more insight into the discrimination Native Americans have faced, the inequities, and the sorrow. It's easy to read and somewhat brief. Margaret Verble writes in a beautiful, authentic voice.
February 9, 2023
I won this book in a giveaway and am very glad that I gave it a chance. I was hooked from the first chapter. Kit is an incredibly charming character and it's hard not to love her. As the book is from her POV, that makes sense, but she's still a very well written character. The author does an incredibly job of giving her a voice. She sounds like an 11 year old girl, which means that we are only privy to the information that she would know or how she would understand it. Verble made it so that we can see through Kit's eyes, so to say.
I really loved the format of the chapters. Kit is writing about her current events at the religious school, but that's also interwoven with events from the past that led up to her being forced into this religious school. I don't feel that it was difficult to discern whether Kit was referring to the past or to the present. The author was great about making it evident without being obvious.
The biggest point that needs to be made with this book is the attention to how people are treated. It's not just racism involved in this book. It's religion and how men in religious power behave. It's misogyny and how women are treated of all races. It's how a white man can literally but then still I could go on and on. The author has a lot of points to make about how people treat each other, particularly back then and I feel like she pulled it off in a much better way than in The Nickel Boys, which I would consider a similar book.
Kit endures SO much in the short period of time that we get to know her. Seeing how it's interpreted through the eyes of a young girl is heartbreaking. She's so...innocent, which makes her life so much more heartbreaking. I really felt for her.
The only reason I dropped a star is because it ended vaguely and abruptly. I'm still not entirely sure if the ending was Kit talking about something she was going to do or had already done. I suppose ending it abruptly makes sense for the format of the book but I think I just wanted more. As far as resolutions go, it's not much of one.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think it has some really important messages to deliver that people need to listen to and Kit was an excellent protagonist. A very very good read!
I really loved the format of the chapters. Kit is writing about her current events at the religious school, but that's also interwoven with events from the past that led up to her being forced into this religious school. I don't feel that it was difficult to discern whether Kit was referring to the past or to the present. The author was great about making it evident without being obvious.
The biggest point that needs to be made with this book is the attention to how people are treated. It's not just racism involved in this book. It's religion and how men in religious power behave. It's misogyny and how women are treated of all races. It's how a white man can literally but then still I could go on and on. The author has a lot of points to make about how people treat each other, particularly back then and I feel like she pulled it off in a much better way than in The Nickel Boys, which I would consider a similar book.
Kit endures SO much in the short period of time that we get to know her. Seeing how it's interpreted through the eyes of a young girl is heartbreaking. She's so...innocent, which makes her life so much more heartbreaking. I really felt for her.
The only reason I dropped a star is because it ended vaguely and abruptly. I'm still not entirely sure if the ending was Kit talking about something she was going to do or had already done. I suppose ending it abruptly makes sense for the format of the book but I think I just wanted more. As far as resolutions go, it's not much of one.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think it has some really important messages to deliver that people need to listen to and Kit was an excellent protagonist. A very very good read!
January 14, 2023
2.5. This book will appeal to many readers, but it just wasn’t for me. I adored the main character, Kit, but I found the story very difficult to follow. There was not a strong sense of time or place. I assumed the school would feature more prominently, but it was not a huge part of the story aside from the disturbing & graphic scenes of sexual abuse. Oddly, this read more like a murder mystery than the historical fiction I expected. There were some powerful themes dealing with racism, identity, society & religion, but it was difficult to discern the author’s message.
March 12, 2023
I wanted to love this book so badly. The topics it covered - racism, child abuse, and trauma - told from a child’s perspective should have made for a painful and important read. It gets 2 stars (probably 1 too many) for appropriate depictions of dissociation in the context of trauma and for some tender moments. But unfortunately, everything about it was immature and derivative of To Kill a Mockingbird. Maybe re-branding for a middle school audience would help…
July 31, 2023
Truly a masterpiece - right up there with To Kill a Mockingbird. Kit reminded me so much of Scout Finch - a young girl wise beyond her years even as she loses her innocence. The story is loosely based on the Indian School Scandal, but is actually a story of family, love and lies.
It is beautifully written by an author I had never heard of. Fortunately, my library has four more of her novels just waiting for me to gobble up. Again, thank you Belle. This one gets my vote for 2023.
It is beautifully written by an author I had never heard of. Fortunately, my library has four more of her novels just waiting for me to gobble up. Again, thank you Belle. This one gets my vote for 2023.
August 4, 2023
Such a tender read. A coming-of-age story about a young Native American girl stolen from her family and placed in a boarding school. It’ll break your heart, but you’ll love Kit’s bright, tenacious spirit.
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