The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore

December 11, 2017
In the latest from Fu (For Today I Am a Boy), which reads like a collection of linked short stories, a summer-camp accident changes the lives of five girls, all between the ages of nine and 11. Nita, Andee, Isabel, Siobhan, and Dina arrive at Camp Forevermore in the Pacific Northwest for different reasons—entranced by brochures featuring girls with “bold smiles of uneven teeth and no-nonsense braids,” or eager to escape the strictures of their monotonous upbringings. At first occupied by swimming tests and self-conscious friendships, the campers soon embark on an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island to become “capable, knowledgeable outdoorswomen.” When group leader Jan falls ill, the girls are forced to traverse the island’s dense woods seeking rescue, and must contend with the elements and one other. In sections that alternate between the events of the trip and the sweep of each character’s adult life, effects of the trauma linger; from Dina’s eating disorder and failed modeling career to Nita’s sublimated, near-rabid need for her son to Siobhan’s mistrust of children. Fu precisely renders the banal humiliations of childhood, the chilling steps humans take to survive, and the way time warps memory. Agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists.

It's fitting that an audiobook about five girls is delivered by five diverse narrators. Tavia Gilbert, Soneela Nankani, Sophie Amoss, Nicol Zanzarella, and Emily Woo tell the story of Nita, Kayla, Isabel, Dina, and Siobhan, who become stranded on an island with no adults while attending Camp Forevermore. While the tragedy that happens there is intensified by the narration, it's the uniqueness of the narrators' portrayals of the lost girls that makes this vocal collaboration distinctive. There is an intellectual side to each child that is refreshingly vocalized throughout the dialogue. D.Z. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine