In Jacquelyn Mitchard’s new novel, “Cage of Stars,” 12-year- old Veronica Swan, or Ronnie, as she is usually called, has seen the worst kind of tragedy.
Her two baby sisters were murdered in front of her as she was playing hide-and-seek one sunny autumn afternoon. When her sisters didn’t giggle while trying to find her, like they usually did, Ronnie came out of the shed where she was hiding and saw them dead on the ground with their murderer, Scott Early, standing over them.
Mitchard is the author of such acclaimed novels as “Breakdown Lane” and “The Deep End of the Ocean,” which was Oprah Winfrey’s first choice for her well-known book club and quite likely put the book on the New York Times best-seller list.
Mitchard takes stories from real life and makes them her own by writing a story about what happens once the nightly newscasters are done hashing them and newspaper headlines have gone away.
She writes stories with Oprah-esque themes – rape, incest, affairs and other violations human beings inflict on one another. “Cage of Stars” begins with reporters prying into the life of the Swan family as it tries to recover from the tragedy.
Ronnie has grown up in a small Mormon town in Utah with a family living by Mormon doctrine. Surrounded by other Mormons who look after one another, Ronnie’s life has been idyllic, peaceful and sheltered. She is a typical teenager, though – an innocent girl with curly auburn hair who loves horses and has a crush on a boy her parents probably wouldn’t approve of, since he’s not Mormon.
But all this was before the murders. After the loss of her young sisters, Ronnie becomes angry and full of grief. She is forced to raise herself and her newborn brother while her mother mourns the loss of her children and Ronnie’s father spends his time walking in the woods behind their house.
Ronnie changes diapers and puts young Rafe to sleep while keeping up with her studies. Neither parent seems to notice Ronnie anymore, and they even forget her birthday two years in a row. It is through Ronnie’s strength alone that the family is held together.
She completes high school with grades good enough to land her scholarships at prime schools. These scholarships are her ticket out and a way to start a new life.
In an attempt to begin anew, Ronnie’s parents decide to put the past behind them and formally forgive Scott Early for his sin. During the trial it is proved that Early has schizophrenia and that since he has been on medication, he has become a responsible citizen.
Ronnie is not so sure and wants Early punished with a prison sentence or death. She blames him for the loss of her youth and, of course, the loss of her sisters. Between her parents forgiving Early and his release, Ronnie is even more determined to get away from Utah.
In the beginning of the novel, she says she would feel guilty if she didn’t avenge her sisters and wouldn’t be able to face them in heaven unless she did something. Her revenge comes years later.
Her plot is a shocker. Instead of going to college, Ronnie moves to San Diego, where the Earlys have relocated. She changes her identity, takes classes to become an EMT and interviews to be a nanny for the Earlys. She wants Early to suffer as much as she has and plans to take away the most important person in his life – his newborn daughter.
Ronnie learns more about sin and forgiveness in a few minutes than she did in all her years as a churchgoing Mormon girl. In one instant she must make a decision that will forever alter her life, her family and the small Mormon community she is part of, not to mention Scott Early and his family.
With a tender look at how every person is capable of having a dark side, Mitchard has taken an inhumane subject and given it a heartbeat. She has created a simple character from a good family and made her believably hell-bent on revenge.
Renee Warner is a freelance writer in Atlanta.
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Cage of Stars
By Jacquelyn Mitchard
Warner, 289 pages, $24.95
