Plummer, Louise. Finding Daddy. New York: Delacourte Press, 2007.
Sarah’s smile is gone. She reads the caption aloud: “Daddy will never let anyone take his girl away from him.” She winces. “Why would he write that?”
“Well, it fits the picture, don’t you think? I mean, look how I’m struggling against him.” Her serious expression unnerves me a little. “What?” I ask.
“It should say, ‘Daddy will never let his little girl get away from him.’” She leafs back a few pages and then returns to the last one. “This page is different. The caption is so much longer than any of the others, and he’s different.” She sounds as if she’s talking to herself. “His smile—“ She’s reluctant to describe it. “It’s not a smile, really—It’s fake.”
I move in closer for a better look. “That’s because he’s trying to hold down a screaming two-year-old.” What is her problem? “It’s hard to smile when you’ve got a—“
“Look at the little cast on your arm.” She closes the album and forces a smile. “Sure, you’re right,” she says, but she’s not convincing.
Mira has wondered her whole life about her father. All she knows is that her parents decided when she was young that her life would be better without him. But what if it was just her mother's decisions? If that were the case, doesn't her father have a right to know her?
I loved this story. Horrifying. Suspenseful. Disturbing. And psychologically accurate. She captures the emotions and relationships perfectly. And guess what? There is sacrifice at the end. You screw up, you pay for your mistake, and Mira certainly does. However, I do feel like there should have been a little more closure with the romance. Maybe the ambiguity is so that we can imagine our own ending...I’d imagine the happier one.
This will definitely be a big hit with the horror fans. It made me scared to be alone for a few days. A great story.
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