Rust & Stardust

Rust & Stardust
by T. Greenwood

Sally Horner is only 11 years old when steals a notebook from the local Woolsworth.  She steals the notebook in an attempt to complete an initiation into a group of girls.  She is chatty, but doesn't have friends.  She wants to be friends with the group of girls, so when they ask her to steal something, even though she knows stealing is wrong, she does it.

A man stops her, tells her he is from the FBI, and has to do what he says.  He is not from the FBI, he is actually 52 year old Frank LaSalle, just out of prison.  Sally spends the next two years with Frank, where she is mentally and physically assaulted.  

This novel rotates between different characters, Sally, her mother, her sister, her brother-in-law, and more.  Seeing the different perspectives showed how the kidnapping effected others.

This was a hard book to read, not the writing, just the story itself.  This is a fictional novel, however it is based on a true story.  There really was a Sally Horner who was kidnapped in 1948 and she was with Frank LaSalle for two years.  As I read the book, it wasn't just the awful things that were happening to 11 year-old-child.  Something similar and awful really did happen.  It's horrifying.  I want to take poor Sally away from that monster.  

Her sister and brother-in-law both love Sally and are desperate for her to come back home.  I did not like the mother.  She let her daughter go off with a stranger, very few questions asked.  And then seems to blame Sally.

It seemed like multiple times Sally had a chance to escape or that there was someone there that could have helped her, but then they either look the other way or by the time they decide to help, it's too late and Sally and Frank are no longer there.  And there were times Sally could have reached out for help, but she didn't.  However, she was a terrified 11 year old, who was convinced by Frank if she said anything, harm would come to her family.