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Dead Girl

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Deep in the mountains of Neather, Ellen reveres her elders and follows their traditions until a young man betrays her trust and violates her innocence. Pregnant and shunned by her tribe, Ellen’s last shred of tenderness dies with her stillborn baby. After years of isolating herself in grief, she leaves the mountain to carve out a future. Surviving her youth will take all of Ellen’s resolve and develop a life she could not have foreseen.

Dead Girl is one of four novellas in the collection Legends of the Exiles, which releases April 15, 2019.

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Jesse Teller

36 books83 followers

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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Profile Image for Dianne.
6,790 reviews586 followers
February 23, 2018
She was young, she was innocent and her hormones overrode her common sense. Ellen was used, betrayed and left pregnant, shunned by her family and village, abused by the midwife who was meant to be her support. Her baby dead, her body scarred, she survived physically, but the grief has destroyed her.

Turning her back on society and its cruelties, she becomes a hermit, spending her days telling her story, expressing her rage with paint and crude writing tools. Why did her life turn out so wrong? Why did her baby die? Why wasn’t she deserving of support and love? Would it be better to end her existence or would that mean that the worst of society’s hard heartedness had won? As the years go by, few will break through the shields she has put up around her, both physically and emotionally. Will their caring warm the coldness in her heart? Will Ellen find the courage to move on? It would take a miracle to give her a reason to live, but perhaps that miracle is coming…if it is not too late.

Jesse Teller’s DEAD GIRL is a dark and brutal story of one young girl’s torment in a society too blind to see their injustice. It is the story of unknown strength and a will to survive, even with the burning rage that was destroying what was left of this young woman. Jesse Teller writes with a stark clarity and raw emotion that will burrow deep into the soul of every reader as we recoil at the callousness of the many and the kindness of the few brave souls. Definitely a story that will stay with readers.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Jesse Teller!

Coming soon! Dead Girl is one of four novellas in the collection Legends of the Exiles, which releases April 15, 2019.

This novella is currently available as a free download when subscribing to Jesse Teller's newsletter. Visit jesseteller.com/newsletter for more details.
For Reviews & More: http://tometender.blogspot.com



Profile Image for Richard Nell.
Author 9 books697 followers
February 27, 2018
4.5 stars. Whew. Well, that novella kind of knocked me on my ass. The first chapter had me a bit worried I might not like the writing, but it's just an unusual style that took a second to adjust to. Once I did, I actually really liked it. It's sort of minimalist and in-your-face - a style vaguely reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk. Why would a non-fantasy writing shock-artist be in my mind, you ask?

Well, in Dead Girl, a pregnant woman gets torn open, her baby burned, and she keeps one of the child's bones behind her ear as a reminder. So, a dark book, shall we say, which personally I love - in fact I kind of burst out laughing at how awesomely dark this was. But there's also clearly thought behind it. It helps set a tone and is important to the world-building, which I really enjoyed because:

It's a sort of 'ancient' state of man, or at the very least a culture and area where the language doesn't exist in written form - a tribe, or cluster of tribes, where the strength of great heroes and chiefs creates the order required for civilization. There's a lot going on in this world, and it feels like a real, living thing that doesn't require the protagonist (and, indeed, she tries not to take part in it).

I also found many of the minor characters fascinating and well-done. Many deserve their own stories, and perhaps have them. Some people might get lost in the sea of names, the time-jumps and descendants, but it's kind of irrelevant. Probably even intentional. Actually I'm a little reminded of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (go ahead and try and keep track of the Buendia family). One Bloodfist dies, and another takes his place - so goes the line of chiefs and warriors in a harsh world.

I also bring Marquez up because the 'fantasy' element of this novella is weaved into the story in a way that's really more like magical realism. Some people have magic, legendary swords, or shields, and that's that. I'm a big low-fantasy fan, so this was precisely my cup of tea.

Ultimately, I just really enjoyed this short read and devoured it in about two days. It's dark, it doesn't hold your hand; it's smart and displays knowledge and understanding of real human history (which is not nearly as common as you'd think in fantasy), and it ends with redemption and hope. I'll absolutely be reading more from the author.

Well done, sir, and thanks very much for the book.
Profile Image for Rebekah Teller.
Author 3 books53 followers
February 13, 2018
Ellen Black Knuckle trusted the wrong boy. He took more than she wanted to give, and he broke her heart. She did not mean to get pregnant. But when her baby dies, grief destroys her. She retreats to a life of solitude and spends years trying to understand what happened to her, trying to find a reason to live, trying to find a reason to stop living.

This heartbreaking story had me shaking my head and asking myself what I would want if I were in Ellen's situation. I don't know if I could have been as strong as she is. Her rage is unapologetic. Her hopelessness is pure. Each day is a struggle, and just when she starts to step back out into the world, her past comes crashing down on her again. Ellen has a rare courage that all of us could aspire to, but few of us would find.

We're brought into a unique barbarian society in a high fantasy setting. Larger than life warriors and shamans with supernatural powers. Certain tribal leaders try to be supportive to Ellen and help her with her plight, but for the most part, the people of her tribe don't want the details of her sexual encounter. They just assume she's a whore and spew hateful remarks about her. Yet, there is hope for Ellen. She learns that if she can keep moving forward, if she can recover from her traumatic past and look ahead, she can find a new life.

Ellen's struggle has the reader asking, is misery more soothing than hope? Is rage more comforting than justice? It's told through a single POV, third person, past tense, and does skip over a few years at times to portray specific milestones of Ellen's young life.

This is an emotional tale I recommend to fans of barbarian fantasy and to readers who sympathize with abuse victims and long to understand their experiences and recovery.

This novella is currently available as a free download when subscribing to Jesse Teller's newsletter. Visit jesseteller.com/newsletter for more details.
3 reviews1 follower
March 25, 2018
Dead Girl is a story of survival. Ellen lives in a society that can be hard on women in general. The nation is of warriors in a time where women are, at times, seen as property. Ellen finds herself in a difficult situation at a very young age that she is not equipped to handle on her own. Hormones prevail and by the time reality hits, it’s too late. Left used, abused, and pregnant, she must find a new future for herself than the life she was planning. After the unwanted pregnancy, traumatic birth, her own near death, and the death of her child, she isolates herself. These things would defeat most women, but as I said, Ellen’s is a story of survival.

I found Ellen to be an extremely engaging character and was able to empathize with her almost immediately. The writing is so detailed that very early on in the book I forgot I was reading a story and became part of it instead. When it was all over, I felt like I was part of her circle of friends, not a stranger reading about her. The friends she picks up along the way are vibrant and full of life, they bring more depth to the overall story. Ellen finds love from a variety of places that she never expected along with some men of honor to help her see her own worth. I picked up this book intending to read a few chapters and a few hours later was disappointed that it was over.

I love this story for the realism it portrays in a fantasy setting. I love that this book and the themes involved can easily be correlated to things that happen today. I love that this book gives the reader an in-depth view of a victim recovering from a traumatic event and how society can either help or hinder that recovery.
160 reviews2 followers
January 23, 2019
Really enjoyed this. A short tale but emotionally charged. Well worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews

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