Jenny Rat

Jenny Rat
By Martin Simons

Summery courtesy of goodreads.com
Jenny, a young girl who has been sexually abused since childhood and now brutally assaulted, has been reduced to utter despair. She is saved by a reclusive, shy young man, Michael, twenty eight years old, who stumbles across her dying in the gutter outside his isolated house. He is a brilliant consultant engineer who works from home with his computers, rarely venturing outside. Profoundly shocked he gets her to hospital and visits her there as she struggles to recover. Mentally she is shattered. He is greatly shaken by the intrusion into his settled life but, full of compassion cannot abandon her. She recognizes in him a hope of refuge and determines to live with him. He welcomes her. They pretend to be sister and brother but this cannot last. She has great talents as a sculptor. He encourages her, providing tools and materials as she grows, constructs and reconstructs her works and her life. She begins to chip at him as she shapes her art. He is compelled to expand outside his self-imposed solitude. She attends school and brings friends to the house. A crisis develops which they overcome with difficulty. They become lovers. As they both continue to develop and grow, their relationship alters. At first he was the stronger, advising her to take control of her own life. She discovers in herself the power to do so and knows she is responsible for changing him too. As they grow further, more changes must be faced.

Review
Martin Simons has a real talent for world building, hes created a dark gritty plot whose characters drew me in - they were complex and broken, but together Michael and Jenny draw strength and confidence from each other and learn to live again in a normal and healthy way.
Jenny and Michael have both suffered through disturbing abuse and neglect.

Jenny is a survivor whose father was a twisted man who convinced her there was nothing wrong with the
incestuous relationship he had with her. Jenny's mother jealous and broken turns Jenny into a teenage prostitute where she once more is the victim of pedophiles. Alone and on living on the street Jenny is badly beaten and left for dead when Michael finds her and takes her to hospital.

Michael is a man who is a consulting engineer who lives alone outside of town because he has agoraphobia. Michael visits Jenny in the hospital and she opens up to him and tells him the sad story that is her life. Michael is drawn to Jenny, he really just wants to help her and show her that all people are not evil and untrustworthy,with the help of social worker, she ends up in his home...

Martin Simons has immense talent he has show cased social problems such as incest, domestic violence, prostitution and homeless teens in a real way that wasn't judgmental, but rather he shows the reader the sad progression that people in these situations can fall into.

This was a thought provoking read that gave me hope, it also made me laugh and cry, its a complex narrative that EVERYONE SHOULD READ ITS ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT.
A review copy was provided by NetGalley and Martin Simons in exchange for my honest review.
5 Stars