Pretty Is

My friend Wendy Starkweather's niece, Maggie Mitchell, wrote this--her first novel. So  I approached it with both a bit of extra curiosity and apprehension. What if I didn't like it--what does one say? Fortunately, it was a really intriguing book, not exactly a thriller, but more a psychological exhumation.
Two 12-year old girls, whose paths would otherwise never have crossed, are both abducted by the same handsome charming man and kept for almost two months at a rundown lodge deep in the woods. Carly May, from a small town in Nebraska is exceptionally pretty and her step-mother seeks to get attention for herself by promoting Carly May to be in beauty pageants. Tiny attractive Lois is precociously smart and is kidnapped miles away in Connecticut. Each girl is notable in her own way but very different from each other. It's never entirely clear to the girls or the reader why they were chosen. But the fact that they were seems to exert a psychological hold over both girls and they never seriously try to escape. Two stories--then and now-- are told from each girl's/ woman's perspective in alternating chapters,  starting when both women are adults. Carly--now Chloe Savage--is a B-level actress in Los Angeles; while, former spelling bee champ Lois is teaching literature at a small college in upstate New York. Under a pseudonym, Lois has written a book, a fictionalized account of two girls who are kidnapped, that is popular enough to have been optioned for a movie. She has worked hard to separate herself from that past as has Carly/ Chloe. But a student in one of Lois' classes has ferreted out the connection and begins subtly blackmailing Lois to keep from revealing her identity. Predictably, Chloe is tapped to play a role in the movie and their lives once again collide. Coherent characters, well-crafted settings, and a slightly disturbing sense of mystery will keep you engrossed in this book.
Good reviews from The Guardian, Kirkus, and The New York Times.