Girl in Pieces

“Equal parts keen-eyed empathy, stark candor, and terrible beauty. This book is why we read stories: to experience what it's like to survive the unsurvivable; to find light in the darkest night.”

—Jeff Zentner, author of
The Serpent King

“Raw, visceral, and starkly beautiful, with writing that is at times transcendent in its brilliance,
Girl in Pieces
is a deeply affecting portrait of a young girl's determination to survive in a world that has abandoned her and a mind that seeks the release of emotional suffering through physical pain. An unforgettable story of trauma and resilience.”

—Kerry Kletter, author of
The First Time She Drowned

“A breathtakingly written book about pain and hard-won healing…I want every girl to read
Girl in Pieces
. Reading it is like removing your heart and leaving it in Glasgow's very skilled hands.”

—Kara Thomas, author of
The Darkest Corners

“
Girl in Pieces
has the breath of life; every character in it is fully alive. Charlie Davis's complexities are drawn with great understanding and subtlety.”

—Charles Baxter, author of National Book Award finalist
The Feast of Love

“Charlie Davis has been damaged and abused after several years of living on the streets, but she is fiercely resilient. Though it will appeal to readers of Ellen Foster,
Speak,
and
Girl, Interrupted, Girl in Pieces
is an entirely original work, compulsively readable and deeply human.”

—Julie Schumacher, author of the
New York Times
bestseller
Dear Committee Members

“Kathleen Glasgow illuminates not only the anxiety of youth but the vulnerability and terror of life in general.
Girl in Pieces
hurts my heart in the best way possible.”

—Amanda Coplin, author of the
New York Times
bestseller
The Orchardist

“Charlie Davis's voice is diamond-beautiful and diamond-sharp, which, when strung together by a delicious story and memorable characters, creates a rare and powerful read. Kathleen Glasgow's
Girl in Pieces
is a treasure of a novel.”

—Swati Avasthi, author of
Split
and
Chasing Shadows

“An extraordinary coming-of-age story. An unsentimental and affecting tale of a girl who almost doesn't make it to adulthood.”

—Summer Wood, author of
Arroyo
and
Raising Wrecker

“Glasgow has written a
Girl, Interrupted
for a new generation. Her assured debut is a mad-girl story with new edges of intelligence, lyricism, and grit. From institutions to the streets to the secret razors we all keep, whether in our cupboards or our minds, the story of the mad girl is ultimately a story about being a girl in a mad world, how it breaks us into pieces and how we glue ourselves back together.”

—Melissa Febos, author of
Whip Smart
and
Abandon Me

“Dark, frank, and tender,
Girl in Pieces
keeps the reader electrified for its entire journey. You're so uncertain whether Charlie will heal, so fully immersed in hoping she does.”

—Michelle Wildgen, author of
Bread and Butter
and
You're Not You

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Author's Note

Getting Help

Acknowledgments

About the Author