Claiming Georgia Tate by Gigi Amateau

Amateau, Gigi. 2005. Claiming Georgia Tate. Cambridge: Candlewick Press.

Gigi Amateau's first novel acquaints the reader with thirteen-year-old Georgia Tate Jamison. Divided into two parts, before and after the death of her grandma, we join Georgia as she comes-of-age and learns some hard truths about herself, her family, and life. Set in the south, circa 1970, Claiming Georgia Tate presents realistic characters, some sympathetic, some loathsome, as they struggle with universal themes that resonate in the 21st century; innocence and its loss, the devastating consequences of keeping secrets, incest, pedophilia, racism, and prejudice. Told her mother is dead, Georgia lives happily with her Grandma and Grandpa Tate. Her father, the alcoholic Rayford Jamison, wants custody of Georgia, but Georgia's grandma refuses. Everyone knows about the alcoholism, but only Georgia's grandma knows Rayford's dirty secret. Rayford Jamison is a pedophile, and when Georgia's grandma dies unexpectedly; she takes the secret to her grave. Georgia's Grandpa, a good man trying to do what he thinks is best for her, sends Georgia to live with her father. Seen through Georgia's eyes and heard through her thoughts; what follows is something no child should ever have to deal with; although too many do. Use of the "f" word and a devastating rape are part of the narrative, but this wonderfully written, slice of life story serves as a warning that refusing to acknowledge evil does not make it go away.