Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright was born out of wedlock and raised in Greenville County, South Carolina. Her mother was determined that the word bastard to be removed from Bone’s birth certificate and was met with opposition until the day the county courthouse burned to the ground. After her first husband passed away, Bone’s mother had remarried to Daddy Glen; a man who was kind to Bone at first but increasingly became cold and mean.
Dorothy Allison paints a portrait of a desolate young girl born into a family of drinking men and women who marry young. She takes you on a journey to a world as viewed through a young girl’s eyes, and sends you into the perils and torments that Bone faces as a victim of child abuse. Bastard Out of Carolina is a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking novel filled with the harsh reality that abused children suffer with every day.
This controversial book is worth the read! It gives the reader a greater understanding of domestic violence and child abuse, and it is laced with a desire to right the wrongs. Bastard Out of Carolina is a must read AND a must share!
Stacy N. Elliott 