What readers think of Puppet Child, plus links to write your own review.

"Graphic, Poetic, Insightful"

Talia Carner in Puppet Child has given us an exceptionally realistic insight, albeit not a very pretty one of a mother's journey into hell. We are caught up in the trials and tribulations she faces as she attempts to protect her daughter from her husband and the childs father who is a sadistic pedophile. We as witnesses to these events which are unfolding before our eyes are powerless to intervene. We find ourselves unable to comprehend the unfairness of it all. Yet, this scenario is replayed each and every day . Just spend a day in the corridors and court rooms of our family courts and view first hand these horrors.
Read Puppet Child. Mrs. Carner 's writing is graphic and yet poetic in its content and extremely insightful. Her verbal pallette is wonderful. She brings out too us in detail the childs great fear of her father and the very real reasons for this fear and how it impacts on this poor childs very being.
I will look forward to her next novel.

From a mom in "A Little Girl's Hell," who knows the horrors that do happen.

Even I was convinced that it was NOT fiction for hours of reading . What a relief that it is ! This talented writer has taken a shunned subject of immense importance to our society and has woven a spellbinding can't- put -it -down -'til- it's- read image of every mother's worst nightmare - one many of us are forced by courts to live. Read it because you should. Read it because you WILL learn. Read it because you should care - childhood and motherhood have radically changed in our lifetimes and Talia Carner spellbindingly explains how.

A gutsy novel that breaks a taboo--while delivering a non-stop suspense!

After a startling opening I had to know how this protagonist would tackle the challenges of her crisis. Carner did a masterful job of bringing me close to the situation, feeling the angst of the mother and taking me on a ride into a world few writers, to the best of my knowledge, have ever ventured.

I found the prose strong and highly descriptive, the characters believable, starting with the protagonist and continuing with the judge and the young law clerk. I liked what the author did with the other minor characters, all of which added to the texture of a story with a powerful plot and masterful sub-plots.

The ending was a great surprise. I had no idea where the author was going with it, but when things unraveled--then were put together again--I found myself holding my breath.

I've been recommending the book to everyone. There is a lot about this novel that should be discussed with others.

A gut wrenching story of injustice, rescue and responsibility that grips you from Chapter One and never lets go. From its 'I can't believe I just read that' opening scene, Puppet Child delivers a gutsy heroine, a deliciously clueless and corrupt legal system, and suspense to the last page.
-- Chris Gilson, author of "Crazy for Cornelia"

A CAN'T-PUT-DOWNER!!!

Carner's Puppet Child dares to go where other stories of child abuse shrink and hide away. It is a very well-written and powerful first novel that grips the reader immediately showing the devastating frustration of a mother determined to protect her young child, and a judicial system, so poorly designed, it ultimately fails her. The story will make you think, and make you furious...

From the amazing gripping opening to the very end,this reader rooted for Rachel, mother and career woman.

Puppet Child's author Talia Carner tells her story with shattering honesty and compassion...a story that needed to be told!

Prepare to be stunned by a master storyteller who writes with passion and power in an arena none dared enter before.
Fair warning! I never intended to read every word of this book, but once I started I could not stop. Neither will you.
A gripping story so well written you will wonder if it really happened...and pray to God it didn't.
-- Nancy Robinson Masters, award-winning author, "All My Downs Have Been Ups."

Puppet Child "blew me away". I have not cried reading a book in a very long time. Outstanding writing.

What a masterful tale! Weaving an original plot that is like nothing I've ever read, Carner has lassoed me into this non-stop suspenseful, fabulous story that sounded so real! The author has created a protagonist that anyone can identify with--a woman who thinks she has everything until nothing matters when her sole focus is to save her daughter.

In prose never flinches, Carner makes every scene come to life, until I saw it as a movie--and one I could not forget for days! I'm introducing it to my reading group. There is so much to discuss about this book because the author has introduced a host of other topics--the political pressure behind the court system, the role of the media in carrying out justice, and the complexity of family relationships.

Kudos to BookBrowse for selecting this novel as one of 2002 Favorites! I totally agree. I cannot recall a book this year (or maybe even earlier) that matches the can't-put-it-down of Puppet Child.