This is a book that is very hard to read. The good news is that the child survived to write this book. That's the best that I can say. It is hard to imagine that this is fact and not fiction. I am saddened to realize that there are people in the world who behave like this to their own children.

That being said, it is very well-written and fascinating. It is an interesting study into the resilience of people and also into how awful people can be (her father).

Thanks to #NetGalley and #LittleBrownand Company for the ARC of this book. The opinions are my own.

Wow, what a book. The story of Maude Julien's childhood is the stuff of nightmares, but she wrote with such eloquence and strength. Her parents attempted to make her a "super human" by putting her through the most barbaric situations. Her experiences horrified me, yet I couldn't put this book down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

Whoa. What a disturbing and sad story. I mean it kind of left me speechless due to how disturbing I found it. I was, still am, baffled by Maude's parents. Clearly, her father had some severe mental health issues that he forced upon her mother and attempted to force upon her. It's hard to ascertain if his mental health precipitated his very odd beliefs or if his odd beliefs prompted the mental health issues. Either way, they certainly fed off of one another. The man was certifiable and should have been institutionalized. He was a danger to humanity.

It's hard to write a review of this book, of someone's memories and story. Julien's story is the stuff of horror films and yet, she lived it in real life. What impressed itself on me while reading Maude's story is the ability she had to keep going, to have hope she could and would escape, to defy her parents from time to time, and to maintain optimism or to find it when it was lost. Her ability to not just physically escape her childhood but to also keep out of that bondage, emotionally and mentally, in her life present-day is a show of some kind of strength that I can't find words to describe. Maude Julien's story left me quiet and unsettled. I cannot rate someone's life with bookworms or stars or any other kind of rating system that has been adopted for movies, books, etc. so I will not be able to assign this a rating and honestly, I'm not sure I can recommend it. (For the purposes of NetGalley feedback I have attached a rating but on my blog and Goodreads I have left it without one.) It's not for a casual reader, which of course I didn't realize when I started it, perhaps it is best for those entering the field of psychology. I just know that I cannot recommend it to basically anyone I know due to the numerous triggers her story contains.

The most difficult book I've ever read, yet I couldn't put it down. Maude Julien's life feels too atrocious to even think about, yet accept it actually happened to a human being. Abused, humiliated, and controlled by her mad father, I can't believe she eventually found the strength to overcome trauma and even become a therapist to help others like her. Her memoir horrified me and inspired me at the same time. Such a strong woman!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien.

This is a horrifying memoir of Maude Julien's childhood being raised in her father's cult, which only consisted of her, her mother, and father. Once Maude is born, Maude's father is convinced that he will make a superhuman out of her. Submitting the family, and even the family's pet's to outrageous exercises in order to overcome themselves and the world, Maude endures terrible abuse and emotional neglect. As a young child Maude accepts her reality as well as the reality that she may one day need these special skills to survive in the world, but as she gets older, her beliefs and views start to crumble, and she knows that she is a part of something that isn't right.

Thank goodness this had a decent ending, otherwise it is simply terrible the whole way through. That poor girl! I'm always baffled by how humans create their very own hells out of thin air, life just did not need to be so terrible for any of them. But good on her for telling her story, it makes me wonder how common it is for people to belong to 2-3 person cults like this.

*Trigger warning: animal, child, and sexual abuse. This is not an easy read.

This was an incredibly bleak and harrowing memoir, one that could've come almost out of a horror story. The author details the cruel, bizarre, and loveless childhood she had to endure, and it is absolutely shocking. Thankfully, the book shifts into a more hopeful tone towards the end, and despite how depressing it was, I am glad to have read this memoir. Kudos to the author for being able to recount her traumas in this book.

It is difficult to write a review for this kind of book. The story is true, and difficult to read because the life Maude Julien was forced to live is unthinkable. I cannot judge her writing because I understand that in part, the writing is what allowed her some small piece of healing. The lack of emotion is a way for her to cope, and just getting this story down on paper is a triumph of will. Sad, and horrifying.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how Maude Julien grew up to be an adult without significant mental damage. What a miserable childhood and monstrous parents. It was like reading a horror story. She must have had a good angel watching over her.

This woman survived a horrible up bringing by totally crazy, abusive parents. The book is very well written and a fast but depressing read. I am glad that she was strong enough to escape and make a life for herself. The parents should be in jail.

Fascinating memoir and an excellent companion piece to Educated by Tara Westover. Highly recommend!

I will add this to my collection of books for kids who loved A Child Called It.

A disturbing read. Mostly at the end of it I felt it was incomplete and that Maude Julien's life needs 2 more books: one on her life as a mother, wife and professional (construction lawyer to mental health specialist?) and what her mother has been doing since her father's death in 1979. The second book should be about the psychological healing process she went through and that she now recommends. This was a well-written but absolutely frightening, sickening read.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for a copy of this memoir. Maude Julien's memoir is harrowing. The recounting of abuse at the hands of her parents in their attempts to make her "superhuman," and able to survive any physical or mental challenge is incessant. It is not easy to read. Aside from the grueling content itself, it is also difficult because it reads monotonously as Maude unflinchingly recalls abuse, after abuse, after abuse. For me, this memoir lacked the passion, reflection, and analysis that would have allowed me to connect with Maude.

I enjoyed this book. It was hard to believe that this was a true story and that Maude went through all this abuse. Her father was a manipulative, conniving and evil man who thought he had some special power. I was really angry with Maude's mother, who allowed this to go on and participated in this abuse of her only child. I'm glad that she was able to find people who helped her out of her bad situation. She is a very strong person who only deserves the best in her life.

Intriguing book. I was hooked from the very beginning. This author was new to me. This story will stay with me

4 resilient, brave stars to The Only Girl in the World and infinite stars to Maude Julien for her resilience and bravery. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

From a little girl, Maude Julien was deprived of love, affection, and any comfort at all. On top of that, she was tested and challenged by her father to some standard I never really understood. Basically, he used it as an excuse to torture her. Maude learned compassion through her pets- thank goodness for her animals! And through incredible inner fortitude, Maude learned to reinforce the inner goodness that her parents did not.

This is a tale of survival and strength, but wow, it was difficult reading to the end, and I kept thinking- I’m just reading this book. I’m not being forced to live how she did. I was heartbroken thinking of Maude growing up, and in the end, when she escaped (no spoilers, it’s in the synopsis), I was uplifted by her spirit and will to be a loving mother, a helper, and a citizen contributing positively to society.

Overall, a book well worth reading. I’m grateful for Maude Julien sharing her story with the world and hope it’s helped her healing.

The Only Girl in the World was published on December 12, 2017. Thank you to Maude Julien, Little, Brown and Company, and Netgalley for the complimentary copy.

Wow!! This poor girl!! I felt so sorry for her.

A psycho father who adopted a six year old girl, raised her, married her when she was of age and had a daughter with her. This book is the story of the childhood of that daughter, Maude.

This girl's home life was crazy. She spent years never leaving her house or yard (one that was totally blocked in for the most part, she couldn't see out, no one could see in). She was home schooled and told so many lies. Her father, who was a legend in his own mind, had some imaginative ways in which to raise a child. The biggest lesson that her father wanted to teach her was "to trust no one" and that there was a slew of kidnappings and that Maude, herself, had to be very careful since they were a well off family.

While reading this book, I seriously could not believe that it was not fiction. This guy's ego was so huge I'm surprised that it fit with two other people in that house.

This was definitely a great story which held my interest throughout the early years of Maude's life. The father's reasons which he gave to Maude as to why he did things was incredible. This was truly a man who need to be hanging by his balls.

Thankfully Maude got out of there and is happy with two daughters.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This book gave me nightmares.  What this poor lady went through as a child is unimaginable.  Unfortunately, this is something that still goes on today and I am shocked by the adults that witness these things and never intervene.  The most amazing part of this story is that Maude still was able to find joy in animals, nature, music, and books.  She read everything she could get her hands on to be able to escape to another world.  Another surprising aspect of this book is Maude's mother.  She was sold to Maude's father as a child. He proceeded to raise and brainwash her until he could marry her and have a child with her.  The result was Maude and his experiments on her.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for providing me with a copy of Maude Julien's memoir, The Only Girl in the World, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT - Maude Julien recounts her traumatic childhood, being raised in France by parents with a bizarre belief system that causes them to raise their daughter with extreme deprivation and cruelty. 

LIKE- The Only Girl in the World is intense and impossible to put down. Julien's parents have a belief that their daughter must be raised with strict rules and odd punishments, to make her tough and a survivalist. Her parents regulate every aspect of her life, including the precise time she wakes up, how many times she chews her food, and the exact spot she is allowed to sit on a chair.  As soon as she can talk, she is given intense lessons in a variety of subjects, with the expectation that she should naturally be able to understand subjects that are taught to much older children and adults. The ability to play musical instruments is prized and she must learn several instruments, sometimes spending up to ten hours a day studying. On top of her education, she is given manual labor tasks, working along side laborers in the gated house where she lives, a house that she doesn't leave for years at a time.

As if this wasn't mad enough, Julien is given other challenges, such as being woken up in the middle of the night and forced to sit still in a pitch-black basement with rats. Her father forces her watch the monthly slaughtering of animals on their property and when she accidentally touches an electrified fence and flinches, he forces her to hold the fence on a regular basis to toughen up.

Julien's mother plays an interesting role in this whole situation. When Julien's mother was a child, her parents were poor and Julien's father offered to buy her. He raised her and groomed her to be his wife, specifically to carry a child that she would then educate. Julien's mother is complex. She is often just as tortured as her daughter, at the receiving end of her husband's crazy ideas and anger. However, she is also envious of her daughter and willfully participates in the punishments. In the end, Julien shows forgiveness towards her mother, towards the acceptance that her mother was raised as part of this ideology and felt trapped.

Speaking of Ideology, Julien's father spouts off confusing beliefs that involve the illuminati, Nazis, and various philosophers. As a reader, it's clear that he is not in his right mind, as his ideas are not only muddled, but contradictory. Seeing it through the lens of Julien's childhood, it's easy to see how these ideas, coupled with her larger than life father, kept her in fear. It's exciting to see her realize the truth and begin to rebel as a teen. 

The most touching parts of her memoir involve Julien's relationship with her pets. This was tricky to navigate, as her parents showed cruelty to the animals as well and Julien had to hide much of her affection, so that the animals wouldn't be further punished or used as a way to hurt her. The animals and Julien's love for books and writing (activities she also must hide) are what keeps her alive.

DISLIKE- Nothing. The Only Girl in the World is often upsetting and it's emotionally difficult to read, but it's also an incredible survival story.

RECOMMEND- Yes! Julien has had a difficult, but fascinating childhood. You will be in disbelief at some of the trauma that she had to endure and you'll admire her perseverance. The Only Girl in the World is a page-turner and must-read memoir.

4 Stars.

Maude Julien is a young girl with indeterminable strength. Somehow, she had an innocence about her that carried her through the most horrific experiences a person could ever imagine. She suffered from mental and verbal abuse at the hands of her father, Monsieur Didion. He exacted mind control over her to the likes of nothing I have ever heard of or seen before. And Maude’s story is a true one. How she survived, I do not know. Yet she did and her ability to have hope when all seemed lost was truly inspiring.

Maude Julien was homeschooled by her mother (who was taken from her own home by Monsieur Didion at the age of 6 years old for the purpose of become his wife and mother to a child “Maude”) and was not allowed to interact with anyone, save her music teacher and her parents. They had a few animals but as soon as she got close to them, her father caged them and made it so that she was no longer even allowed to pet them or get close to them. Monsieur Didion convinced her that she would be kidnapped if she spoke to or looked at anyone, just like Baby Lindbergh. She was locked in a dungy, moldy basement, overnight bound to a chair, without socks on and had to sit up straight, was made to wear a sweater with bells on it, thus if she slouched or bent down, her father would hear her and she would be punished. She had to follow a strict list of rules and obey her father’s every command including eating meals in fifteen minutes. Further, Maude was “taught” never to show emotion of any kind, thus she learned to hide her feelings and thoughts somehow, Maude survived.

This memoir was extremely difficult to read, it is heartbreaking and truly disturbing. At times, it wrecked me to read. There were many a time, where I had to take breaks. Throughout however, you hear Maude’s voice. That hope inside of her is what carries you through. And hope is what shines forth – Maude Julien never gave up. She is not just a survivor, she is a fighter and a spirit animal.

First and foremost, thank you to Maude Julien for sharing your story. Thank you also to NetGalley and Little Brown and Company.

Published on NetGalley, Goodreads, Amazon and Twitter on 1.24.18.