Review of BROKEN THINGS by A. L. Garcia

 A. L. Garcia's novella BROKEN THINGS tells the searingly honest and compelling story of Alma, a girl brought up in a dysfunctional New York family, and who suffers sexual abuse at the hands of her father. What makes the narrative additionally convincing is the inclusion of ordinary detail from daily life, the things she enjoys, like playing with siblings, going to school, eating nice things, at the same time as coping, in silence and isolation, with the ordeals she is being put through. The style is plain and direct - from the outset a strong confident voice is heard and it carries the reader along with great force. I'm looking forward to future ways in which the author develops her talent.