White Oleander

Janet Fitch

Sept 2006 · Sold by Little, Brown

About this eBook

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption.
Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become. Oprah Winfrey enjoyed this gripping first novel so much that she not only made it her book club pick, she asked if she could narrate the audio release.

Ratings and reviews

This book was very good until you got about four-fifths of the way through. The last few chapters seem like they are written by a totally different person and are kind of disjointed and inconclusive - not realistic at all. That ruins the whole story.. She wrote a good tale up until then.

I have lost count of how many times I've read it. You'll find yourself completely immersed into Astrid's world and its dark and so real it hurts. I'll always come back to this book. <3

No matter how many times i read this book it captivates me. Astrid's story is hearwrenching n totally real. The charachters come alive under Janet Fitch's direction. I dunno if its because i am also an artist & writer with a less than happy childhood n can relate with the struggles Astrid endures but this story will ALWAYS hold a place in my heart. It is beautifully written & out of the literally thousands of books i have read there doesnt seem 2 be another that can take its place.

About the author

Janet Fitch is the author of the novels White Oleander (Little Brown, 1999), an Oprah Book club selection translated into 24 languages and made into a feature motion picture, Paint It Black (Little, Brown 2006), also widely translated and made into a feature film, and The Revolution of Marina M. (Little, Brown 2017) set during the years of the Russian Revolution. A fourth novel completing Marina's story, Chimes of a Lost Cathedral, will be published by Little, Brown in summer 2019. Fitch lives in her hometown of Los Angeles with her writer husband Andrew Nicholls.