After a devastating but undefined scourge destroys the landscape and breaks down society, a group of 10 men and their families relocate to an unnamed island to build their ideal society. Generations later, the island is home to a small, very interrelated community descended from the original Founders and beholden to their terribly misogynistic and abusive laws. The young teenage girls, who are the victims of the worst of the abuse, are at the center of Jennie Melamed’s dark debut novel, GATHER THE DAUGHTERS.

The island’s inhabitants understand themselves as safe from, and in opposition to, the Wasteland of the mainland. Their life is simple: they work hard, follow the rules of the ancestors and the most powerful families, marry early and have two children, and then when they are no longer fertile or productive, they kill themselves. What sets GATHER THE DAUGHTERS apart from other dystopian tales is the focus on the sexual abuse of young girls. In fact, that abuse is the lynchpin of both the plot and the society Melamed has created.

"Melamed’s writing is solid, and her story shows keen psychological and social insights. Her young characters, especially Janey, are compelling... This is a scary, heartwrenching and perhaps even hopeless examination of sex, religion, power and control."

On the island, children and wives live by strict rules, but those are suspended every summer for the children. The adults, many of whom are just pubescent themselves, hide from the mud, mosquitoes and rain for the season as the children run wild. The girls in particular take advantage of the freedom by living outside and away from the grown-ups all summer. It is just a brief respite from the harm and fear they otherwise suffer. On the island, wives must submit to their husbands and daughters to their fathers. Melamed slowly reveals the extent of this expected submission, and when she does, the novel becomes truly horrific.

Insubordination against mandated roles and forced actions begins to threaten the balance of power on the island as a group of girls attempt to make their summer freedom permanent. It begins with Amanda’s marriage to a young island man to whom she became attached during her “summer of fruition.” Amanda’s pregnancy, and her belief that the baby is a girl, propels her to question the island’s mythology and its treatment of women and girls. She turns to her closest friend and island rebel, Janey, to confess her desire to leave. Even though the community is told that Amanda died of natural causes, another young girl, Vanessa, knows that to be a lie and tells Janey.

The conversations and realizations of the girls bring to the surface the deep-seated corruption, perversion and injustice at the terrible heart of the island. Everything comes into question as the girls learn that all they have been taught may just be lies to control and debase them.

Melamed’s writing is solid, and her story shows keen psychological and social insights. Her young characters, especially Janey, are compelling, even though they are not always as distinct as they could be. The adults, too, tend to blend together. Still, GATHER THE DAUGHTERS is a fine read. Melamed leaves many questions unanswered, which contributes to the nightmarish and hazy quality of the narrative and the lives her characters live. This is a scary, heartwrenching and perhaps even hopeless examination of sex, religion, power and control.