Inspired by actual events, Sharon Maas sympathetically retells the story of how the cult came about and what happened in the following few years. To say I was shocked to the core was an understatement. Few things shock me these days, but The Girl From Jonestown made me shudder and recoil and really just wonder how and why!
Our protagonist, Zoe, was determined to find out all about the noises she hears in the night. Other people just wanted to brush everything under the carpet and let people get on with their lives, regardless of right and wrong. I know this is true of people and places everywhere in the world, but looking the other way doesn’t always mean it’s the right thing to do.
Sharon Maas captures the entire story and tragic events brilliantly and with compassion. I was compelled to read as fast as my daily life would allow to discover an ending I sort of realised was going to happen, but not what happened to every character.
If you’ve got a strong stomach and you enjoy historical fiction based on facts, then I urge you to read The Girl From Jonestown. It’s a story that everyone should be aware of.
I am lucky enough to be a part of Books on Tour for this book, so thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of The Girl From Jonestown by Sharon Maas.
Book Description
The woman looked at me, anguish brimming in her eyes. I picked up the note she’d left and read the scrawl: HELP!!! Then: Mom. Followed by a number.
A gripping and heartbreaking read, based on the true story of the Jonestown cult, one of the darkest chapters in American history.
When journalist Zoe Quint loses her husband and child in a tragic accident, she returns home to Guyana to heal. But when she hears cries and music floating through the trees, her curiosity compels her to learn more about the Americans who have set up camp in a run-down village nearby. Their leader, Jim Jones, dark-eyed and charismatic, claims to be a peaceful man who has promised his follower's paradise.
But everything changes when Zoe meets one of his followers, a young woman called Lucy, in a ramshackle grocery store. Lucy grabs Zoe’s arm, raw terror in her eyes, and passes her a note with a phone number, begging her to call her mother in America.
Zoe is determined to help Lucy, but locals warn her to stay away from the camp, and as sirens and gunshots echo through the jungle at nightfall, she knows they are right. But she can’t shake the frightened woman’s face from her mind, and when she discovers that there are young children kept in the camp, she has to act fast.
Zoe’s only route to the lost people is to get close to their leader, Jim Jones. But if she is accepted, will she be able to persuade the frightened followers to risk their lives and embark on a perilous escape under the cover of darkness? And when Jim Jones hears of her plans, could she pay the highest price of all?
A powerful and unputdownable novel inspired by the true story of Jonestown, about a woman’s brave attempt to save people who were promised paradise but found only lies. Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing, Before We Were Yours and The Girls will be captivated by The Girl from Jonestown.
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Sharon Maas was born to politically active parents in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1951. She was educated in England, Guyana, and, later, Germany. After leaving school, she worked as a reporter with the Guyana Graphic in Georgetown and later wrote feature articles for the Sunday Chronicle as a staff journalist. Sharon has always had a great sense of adventure and curiosity about the world we live in, and Guyana could not hold her for long. In 1971 she set off on a year-long backpacking trip around South America, followed by an overland trek to South India, where she spent two years in an ashram. She lived in Germany for forty-three years and now lives in Ireland. She is the author of The Violin Maker’s Daughter, The Soldier’s Girl, Her Darkest Hour and many other novels.
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