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    Orpheus Girl
    Orpheus Girl
    Orpheus Girl
    Audiobook4 hours

    Orpheus Girl

    Written by Brynne Rebele-Henry

    Narrated by Laura Knight Keating

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In her debut novel, award-winning poet Brynne Rebele-Henry re-imagines the Orpheus myth as a love story between two teenage girls who are sent to conversion therapy after being caught together in an intimate moment. Abandoned by a single mother she never knew, 16-year-old Raya-obsessed with ancient myths-lives with her grandmother in a small conservative Texas town. For years Raya has fought to hide her feelings for her best friend and true love, Sarah. When the two are outed, they are sent to Friendly Saviors: a re-education camp meant to "fix" them and make them heterosexual. Upon arrival, Raya vows to assume the role of Orpheus, to return to the world of the living with her love-and after she, Sarah, and the other teen residents are subjected to abusive and brutal "treatments" by the staff, Raya only becomes more determined to escape. In a haunting voice reminiscent of Sylvia Plath and the contemporary lyricism of David Levithan, Brynne Rebele-Henry weaves a powerful inversion of the Orpheus myth informed by the disturbing real-world truths of conversion therapy. Orpheus Girl is a story of dysfunctional families, trauma, first love, heartbreak, and ultimately, the fierce adolescent resilience that has the power to triumph over darkness and ignorance.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateOct 8, 2019
    ISBN9781980049074
    Orpheus Girl

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    Reviews for Orpheus Girl

    4/5

    85 ratings8 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Such a beautiful story so glad I read it can’t wait to get my own hard copy!
    • 4/5
      Heartbreaking tale about a girl willing to go to hell and back to save her love.
    • 4/5
      Poignant and realistic.
      It hurt my soul as I related so much to these characters and it will definitely stick with you.
    • 4/5
      Enjoyed this one. A little dark but it was a good read.
    • 5/5
      A beautiful, sad book about two queer girls being sent to the underworld of a conversion camp. I loved the characters and the message. The romance between Raya and Sarah isn’t the main focus of this book, so if you’re looking for a very romantic read, try something else. The narrator was great.
    • 5/5
      This book gave me a nightmare where a cult wanted to cut off my legs and I think I lost a part of me.
    • 5/5
      TW: homophobia, transphobia, conversion therapy (quite grapphic), off-screen suicide attempt, absent parents, forced outing - Wow... this book has left me without words... This was such a powerful, truthful and also sorrowful story. It did make me tear up at the end, because it just hit me so hard that this is not fiction. This happens in the real world too. And i just wish that i had the power to change things. But i don't, and that leaves us with only one thing left to do: spread awareness. And that is exactly what this book did in a both magical and hard-hitting manner. The writing was incredible and the characters made huge developments. Yes, they were flawed, but exactly that is what made them so real. The storyline was set out in a really clever way, which made it really pleasant to read and/or listen to! Again, the topic is incredibly important. The fact that these kind of facilities still exist in real life is something that I'll never be able to wrap my mind around. Please, please read this story and talk about it with friends or family. Because it is so so important. It won't come as a surprise that this is a five-star read for me!
    • 3/5
      teen LGBTQAI fiction (two girls sent to shock-therapy reform camp after being outted in small-town Texas)

      I had trouble getting into this--maybe I was just too distracted, or maybe it was the short snippet quality of the narrative, pieces of scenes and memories put together into chapters. I think it would have helped if I'd been more familiar with Orpheus, but maybe not.

      I felt like the characters weren't fully fleshed out as such, but the feelings were real, and the subject timely. I could see this appealing to mature, queer teens (note that some of the love scenes get a little more explicit than you might be expecting them to)