Family

i have always been broken.
i could have. died.
and maybe it would have been better if i had.
 
It is a day like any other when seventeen-year-old Melinda Jensen hits the road for San Francisco, leaving behind her fractured home life and a constant assault on her self-esteem. Henry is the handsome, charismatic man who comes upon her, collapsed on a park bench, and offers love, a bright new consciousness, and—best of all—a family. One that will embrace her and give her love. Because family is what Mel has never really had. And this new family, Henry’s family, shares everything. They share the chores, their bodies, and their beliefs.  And if Mel truly wants to belong, she will share in everything they do. No matter what the family does, or how far they go.
Told in episodic verse, family is a fictionalized exploration of cult dynamics, loosely based on the Manson Family murders of 1969. It is an unflinching look at people who are born broken, and the lengths they’ll go to to make themselves “whole” again.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—Seventeen-year-old Mel decides to escape from her broken, sexually abusive home. Finally free, but far from unscathed, she parks herself on a bench in San Francisco where she is "saved" by Henry. He takes her first into his van and then to the ranch where he lives with his "family," a group of other young, broken people (many of them attractive young women like Mel) for whom the sun rises and sets on Henry. The family members share not only chores like cooking and laundry, but their bodies as well. As Mel's time at the ranch lengthens, she becomes increasingly concerned about Henry's anxiety and sinister rumblings. Much of the book is based directly on Charles Manson and the Manson Murders of 1969. Through Mel's tale, Ostow ostensibly aims to dig into the cult mentality and to discern how someone could be pulled so blindly into a madman's orbit. The verse format proves an apt choice to relay Mel's scattered and frenetic thoughts and the use of capital letters in He and Him reinforces the idolatry of Henry without being heavy-handed. Yet while Mel's cycling over and over and over about Henry filling her hollow places, her love for a fellow cult sister, and her abusive stepfather might simulate the mindset of a cultist, the repetitious thoughts become tedious. Still, Family will prove a worthwhile read for teens intrigued with the subject matter.—Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

About The Author:

The only thing MICOL OSTOW enjoys more than reading and writing is being scared out of her ever-lovin’ wits. When she was 12, her father gifted her with a copy of Helter Skelter. Needless to say, it made an impact. 

Micol is the author of So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), which was named a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens, and which Booklist called “a rollicking, witty, and ultra-contemporary book that drums on the funny bone and reverberates through the heart.” She received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and currently runs a popular young adult writing workshop through MediaBistro.com.

Micol lives and works in New York City with her filmmaker husband and a finicky French bulldog. Visit Micol at: micolostow.com.