The Last of the Moon Girls

By

Barbara Davis

For some people family legacy and history can be something they want no part of.  This is the case for Lizzy Moon, or her proper name, Elzibeth Moon,"She couldn't even have a normal name",  the last in the line of gifted healers she's descended from. Nine generations have come before her and now it all comes down to Lizzy. She's inherited the Moon Girl Farm from her grandmother, Althea, after she passes away.   Lizzy has been gone from the farm for eight years making her own future away from the finger pointing, humiliation and mostly the rejection of her own mother, Rhanna.  Now she's faced with returning to her childhood memories and saying goodbye once and for all.  Her grandmother has left her a library of nine journals, "Books of Remembrances",  all written by her ancestors with one story still to be told.  Hers.

What will be the story in Lizzy's journal?  Will she even write a single word in it?  She has no desire to be connected to or keep Moon Girl Farm.  She's the Last of the Moon Girls and the sooner that happens, the better.  As Lizzy returns to the farm to prepare to sell it, she feels a pull to clear her grandmother's name for the awful deaths of two young girls found in the pond on the property.  Opening wounds of a town that has no tolerance for the Moon Girls is risky but she knows in her heart who her grandmother was.  Finding the truth is her one last gift to her grandmother. 

Thus I began the journey with Lizzy.  From the prologue that magickly captured me with the voice of Althea, through the pages of Lizzy's journey,  Ms. Davis' storytelling skills had me lost in the pages.  Turning them with anticipation, eager to follow Lizzy through the emotional challenges of her choices and where they would lead.  I fell into the history, magick  and the beliefs of the Moon Girls as Lizzy remembers her childhood.  The characters of Evvie, Rhanna, and Andrew are descriptively written and intricately woven through Lizzy's decisions and emotional choices.   I loved how the final written words of Althea to Lizzy were perfectly inserted as the story unfolded.  Guiding Lizzy as she faced forgiving and letting go.  Helping her with the choices she needed to make. 

For me this was an enthralling escape into a beautifully written story.  It was the story of Lizzy.  A Moon Girl.  What would the words be that filled "The Book of Elzibeth"?  "There are a hundred names for what we are-and all of them are wrong.  Because we're not one thing. We're many things."  The journey for each of us is unique.  Lizzy's journey was a generational legacy that she trekked through to discover her place in that lineage. 

I want to thank Ms. Davis for the copy of this intriguing and intricately written book.  I am very honored for the opportunity to have read it.  I loved it!  All opinions and thoughts are my heartfelt own.  It's a five star read for me.