THE WHOLE GOLDEN WORLD by Kristina Riggle is the story that could be taken right out of today's newspapers. Morgan is seventeen years old, a senior in high school, who just so happens to be in love with her calculus teacher, TJ Hill. Morgan's mom, Dinah, is a helicopter mom, ever since her twin boys were born months early. Even thought they are fourteen now, she doesn't know any other way to act with her family. She expects Morgan to be the same way with them when she is at work or away from the twins. How could she be so smothering of the twins yet not know any of this is going on with Morgan?
Dinah's husband, Joe, is the assistant principal at the school. He is the ears and eyes of the school, or is supposed to be. How can this be going on right under his nose, his own daughter, and he not know about it? Obviously, they met at Joe's school. First Morgan would stay after class and they would talk about stuff going on in her life, and TJ's as well. He seemed genuinely concerned about her, but things change rather quickly. TJ takes advantage of her low self esteem and her infatuation of him.
TJ has a wife, Rain, who is crazy in love with him. They have been trying to get pregnant and her life has been consumed by the fact that everything they have tried, isn't working. Their lives and feelings are a mess because of their quest to have a baby and TJ shuts down as a result of it. He feels like such a failure because Rain isn't getting pregnant and this is when he seeks out Morgan. She makes him feel like a hero.
THE WHOLE GOLDEN WORLD starts off with Rain sitting in a court room, supporting her husband as legal proceedings begin against him. The story goes back and forth between the courtroom and how they wound up there. This is a real page turner, you won't be able to put down.
The ending of THE WHOLE GOLEN WORLD is truly heartbreaking. The story really makes you think about everyone involved,not the student and the teacher, but their entire families. The whole time everyone is thinking "How did this happen?" Once you start reading you won't be able to stop until the very last page. You will find yourself wanting to shake certain characters, how naive can someone be? You will sit there shaking your head at the way TJ acts in the courtroom. He tries to come off as the victim and poor Morgan keeps professing her love for him. Okay, truthfully, I wanted to smack him!
I can easily see this story becoming a movie. Kristina does a great job of pulling at your heart strings! Once I started reading it was very hard for me to stop and put the book down.
Kristina Riggle, the acclaimed author of Real Life & Liars,
returns with a thought-provoking novel inspired by real-life
events
Seventeen-year-old Morgan Monetti shocks her parents and her
community with one simple act: She chooses to stand by the
man everyone else believes has exploited herβpopular high
school teacher TJ Hill. Quietly walking across a crowded
courtroom to sit behind TJ, and not beside her parents, she
announces herself as the adult she believes herself to be.
But her mother, Dinah, wants justice. Dinah is a fighter,
and she believes with all her heart and soul that TJ is a
man who took advantage of her daughter. He is a criminal who
should be brought to justice, no matter what the cost to his
family.
Rain, TJ's wife, is shocked that her handsome, loving,
respected husband has been accused of a terrible crime. But
has her desperation to start a family closed her eyes to the
fault lines in her marriage? And can she face the painful
truths about herself and her husband?
Told from the perspectives of these three remarkable women,
The Whole Golden World navigates the precarious territory
between childhood and adulthood, raising questions about
love and manipulation, marriage and motherhood, consent and
responsibility. It's a novel both shocking and unforgettable
in its power.
No excerpt available.
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