Twelve-year-old Georgia Tate lives with her maternal grandparents in Ripley, Mississippi. Her mother is dead and her father, Ray, lives with his wife, Sissy, in Florida. Let’s just say it: he is an awful human being. When Gigi Amateau’s novel Claiming Georgia Tate begins, Georgia is actually in Florida visiting her father, but it is soon clear to both Georgia and the reader that she is not safe.

Georgia’s life in Ripley is safe and happy. Her grandfather is the town preacher who takes Georgia fishing and clearly loves her. Her grandmother, while no nonsense, is supportive and loving. Georgia’s life is filled with small-town things: church, family meals, community. She can’t really imagine any other life and then two things happen in quick succession. She finds out a family secret and she is sent to live with her father permanently.

It’s hard to say much more about the book. It’s not very long and it’s not really driven by plot. This is a book about family, both the family you are born to and the family you find along the way. Georgia is lucky to meet a couple characters later in the book who end up being instrumental to her survival.

Your heart will break for Georgia Tate, but you will also be reminded of the goodness that exists in the world, and that’s a reminder we can certainly use right now.