The First Day of Spring by Nancy Tucker
When she was a little girl, she killed a little boy and loved it. Now she's grown with a daughter of her own.
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Pros: so well written, two timelines, emotional, dark
Cons:
TW: Child death, Child abuse, Neglect, Domestic Abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Murder, Bullying, Vomit
I have read a handful of books over the past week that clearly want to see me suffer. The First Day of Spring is absolutely one of those books. It is extremely dark, heavy, heartbreaking and it is written in such a way that it isn’t overtly obvious that you are having a hard time. You will read a few chapters, pause to take a breath and realize that you actually haven’t been breathing properly for the last 20 pages. It is so unassuming with its tragedy.
I first heard about this book via Brandon Baker on TikTok. He creates great content with book lists and summaries of the books he reads. He has spoken about this one several times and I am so glad I decided to try it out because he nailed it and so did the author. Incredible book.
The story opens to a little girl named Chrissie who just killed a little boy (and loved it). That is where the story BEGINS! Harrowing. The chapters are split between 2 POVs: Chrissie as a kid and Chrissie as an adult with a child of her own. It is such a unique way to tell this story and Nancy Tucker executed it so well.
I recommend the heck out of this book but please read with caution. It is very heavy and even for someone like me with minimal triggers, it had me going from angry to numb to disturbed and that is exhausting.