A stunning debut novel, Kaitlyn Greenidge’s We Love You, Charlie Freeman, is a
gripping tale of loneliness and betrayal.
The novel opens in 1990, as witnessed from the point of view of 14
year-old Charlotte Freeman. The
Freemans, Charlotte’s father, mother, and nine year-old sister, have been
selected to take part in an important research study at the reclusive Toneybee
Institute. The family, specifically
Charlotte’s ambitious mother Laurel, are fluent users of sign language, though
they are neither deaf, nor mute. In turns crushingly earnest and insouciant, Charlotte
is the “experiment’s” first skeptic. The research goals are suspiciously vague,
and it soon becomes apparent (if only to the reader) that the study has far more
psychological aspects than linguistic ones. The general idea is that the family
“adopt” a young chimpanzee named Charlie.
Charlie had been abandoned as an infant by his adolescent, cage-reared
mother, and it is the belief of the research team that, if he becomes fully
integrated into a family setting, it may lead to ground-breaking data with
regards to language acquisition and interspecies communication. The Freemans
believe that their unique gift with sign language secured them this prized spot
on the Toneybee team, but all is not as it seems. What none of the family can
predict, as we learn as Greenidge gives each member their own narrative voice,
is the toll the experiment will extract from all concerned. Startling secrets, both within the family, and
the institution itself, will keep you turning pages far past your bedtime!
-Jennifer Wilson
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