about the book
Inside a banged-up medical kit she found at a thrift store, Charlotte Davis keeps her drawings, her cigarettes, and a jagged piece of a broken mason jar. She uses it to cut herself.
Cut out memories of her dead father.
Cut out memories of her best friend Ellis.
Cut out memories of the pimp, Frank.
Cut out the man in the parking garage.
Cut out everything, so there’s nothing left.
Charlotte wakes one cold morning in a Twin Cities hospital with her arms and legs bandaged from particularly bad cuts that left her almost dead. Later, moved to a mental health facility for self-harmers, she is put under the care of therapists and doctors while she slowly begins the process of healing. At least she has a place to stay, she thinks.
Just as abruptly as she enters the program, however, she’s released, due to a lack of insurance. Her mother has given up caring about her and won’t take her back home. Once again on the streets, Charlotte meets up with Mikey, another street kid, and follows him to Tucson.
The cards are stacked against her: self-destructive behavior, unhealthy relationships, and homelessness. Yet, through small, brave acts of resilience, Charlotte perseveres to carve out a future of hope.
about the author
Kathleen Glasgow’s life, in many ways, reflects that of Charlotte, the main character in her debut novel, Girl in Pieces. Kathleen’s story is ultimately a story of hope.
From the age of fourteen to her early twenties, Kathleen was what is known as a self-harmer. She cut herself as a way to manage emotions and depression that she did not know how to deal with. Over one million women nationwide—from young to old—are self harmers. She wrote Girl in Pieces, in part, to speak to girls who are suffering through so much pain like she was. She wants to give their stories a voice. Before she received the treatment and help she needed, Kathleen escaped her pain through reading books, identifying with many suffering characters such as Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye.
Today Kathleen is a successful writer and staff member of The Writer’s Almanac. She lives in Tucson, Arizona, in the midst of a vibrant artist community. Kathleen shares her life with her husband, two children, and a slew of adored pets, among them chickens, a cat, several koi, and a dog.
Her loves? Cheesecake. Coffee. Pepperoni. Polaroid Land Cameras. Fifties prom dresses. Quiet mornings in her downstairs “Lego Room” observing the sights and sounds of her pets in nature.
Her hobbies? Her children. The family dog. “Giving the dog a bath is always a big, messy hit. You can never go wrong with giving a dog a bath because it always ends the same glorious way: the dog shaking a torrential, slow-mo ocean of dog water on everybody and everything,” she says.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Author interview: Germ Magazine
Author interview: The Sweet Sixteens
Author interview: Divabooknerd
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