The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle

William Morrow Press, 2006
Review by Cheryl A Townsend

When an elementary boy tries to kill himself, people tend to look for reasons. What they find is horrendous.

Katrina Kittle writes a deeply emotional, albeit fictional lament of little Jordan Kendrick’s childhood. A quiet, skinny, pale boy, he tries to kill himself to escape the horrors he endures through his parents sexual abuse and their party-life sharing. When their pornography ring is brought to light, the town is aghast at their own naivety and quickly accesses their own children’s potential involvement.

Jordan’s father subsequently skips town, his mother is thrown in jail, and Jordan is left with nowhere to go but a foster home. There he starts his long, tumultuous journey into trust and eventual love. With amazing insight, Kittle writes through the voices of foster parent, Sarah, her son’s Nate and Danny, and of course, Jordan with believable emotions. By the end of the novel, you know these characters. She includes concise legalities to give it credence and a little more to chew on.

An amazingly illuminating book that could easily serve as educational, were it nonfiction. I could not put this down. Though disturbing in nature, it was also a triumphant example of a happy ending. Kittle manages to get all the atrocities of this story across without the use of graphic shock value.

Kittle writes from Dayton, Ohio, where she also teaches middle school theater and English. Kittle previously wrote two novels, TRAVELING LIGHT, which focus is AIDS and the other, TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE, on alcoholism. Kittle was implemental in the founding of the All Children’s Theatre in Washington Township, Ohio. She earned an Ohio Arts Council Grant with chapters from this novel.