Crossing the Lines - Amanda Huggins

I was recently so kindly sent this proof copy of Crossing the Lines, a novella by Amanda Huggins. The novel follows Mollie Archer, a teenage girl from a broken home in the US. Her mum has had a string of abusive relationships and her latest conquest, Sherman Rook, not only beats her but tries to enter Mollie's bedroom at night. Before he can succeed, Mollie decides she has to get out of there for good. She steals his pickup truck and takes the stray, fox-red dog she has named Hal, and disappears.

Mollie's aim is to get to New Jersey, on the other side of the country, to find her dad and brother and finally escape the turmoil back home with her mum. This involves hitching rides, bargaining for places to stay and at times finding herself in threatening positions. Throughout her journey we are provided with a series of memories and anecdotes from those she meets. I loved this aspect of the novella as Huggins would occasionally zoom in on someone's story.

I highly enjoyed this little novella and also have to give a trigger warning for some difficult themes of domestic and sexual abuse, violence and occasional animal cruelty. This is a hard-hitting coming of age story which I would really recommend! Congratulations to Amanda for a wonderful book!