This is my 3rd Book by Emily Barr and I have enjoyed it as much as the others, although it is classed as a YA fiction, it does not feel like it. 

A beautiful and clever story that is well written and stays with you for a while after you finish reading.

A slow starter but by the middle I was totally hooked!
A gorgeous narrative, likeable characters, and a wonderful storyline.
This book is mesmerising, visually beautiful, and written so well.
I loved it!

Summary: 
Artemis or as her family called her Arty was a part of a commune. Arty is a 16-year-old teenager living with her parents along with few other people in the clearing. These people are her family, her world. In fact, the only world she knows. Arty never interacted with the life outside the clearing.

But one day everything changes. An unknown virus attack wipes the entire commune. Only Arty and a younger member of the commune Zeus survives. This compels Arty to move to the outside world. And all Arty knows it’s dangerous, evil and tempting. Arty has to rely on her survival skills. And not only to survive but to find two people her mom told her before she died, Tania Roswell and Matthew. 

The question is how will Arty survive the chaos and find Tania and Matthew?

My take on the book: 

This is the first book I am reading by Emily Barr. I will start with some good points about the book. 

The research by the author is commendable. The commune is in a clearing in India. It is a location near Mumbai or Lonavala. The author has a picturesque description of the landscape, topography, people. Mumbai’s depicted with a lot of details. For someone who’s not been to Mumbai and gives a clear picture. 

Arty is someone intelligent and a survivor. She makes friends being impeccable. But there were certain aspects looked too far-fetched.

The setting moved from India to the UK. There are two POVs in narration. One is a mystery person’s account (revealed towards the end) and another one is the Arty’s perspective.  

I was eager to read this book. But it did not my expectations. The book is fine with the concept and the structure. But somehow it didn’t appeal.  20% into the book I lost focus. It didn’t engage me or draw me into Arty’s world. It was difficult to finish this book.

The concept and storyline were neat but got lost somewhere. I read about the author and it seems she has other books that are interesting. I will read them which might give me reasons to re-read this book.

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Random House Children’s Publishers for the book. 

I am sorry for this but I was disappointed reading the book.

An intriguing novel and one I read fast but I think suffers from the tag of YA Thriller when it's more of a character drama and coming of age tale.

A girl comes out of the woods to a world she knows nothing of. This is a dual narrative timeline with the girl readjusting to life outside, having been living in a forest commune for her entire remembered life and an unknown person trying to escape a basement torture.

How these two tales eventually intertwine forms the central premise and there is some beautiful writing here, especially in relation to the girls journey of discovery, about her family, the reasons why she and her mother ended up in the commune and some emotional and life affirming themes running throughout. 

However I'm not sure the basement part really works, it felt a little like it was simply a plot device to allow for the possibility of a twist - when in fact my personal opinion is that the mystery aspect wasn't really required. The heart of this book is with Arty, in the same way that Flora Banks was all about Flora, Emily Barr writes character drama especially involving younger protagonists absolutely brilliantly. It's her writing super power. I see no need to try and shoehorn her into thriller territory but perhaps that's just me. It is after all her book not mine.

Overall a lovely and clever story which loses focus a little in the middle but gives a wonderfully nostalgic and thoughtful finale.

The Girl Who Came Out Of The Woods by Emily Barr a five-star read you will want to seek out. I have read a few books by this author and enjoyed them, this one seemed to have more depth and kept me guessing a lot longer, I honestly don’t know what to write as its one of those where if I put the wrong thing, I feel it would spoil the story for you, there are details that if I had known at first It wouldn’t have been as good a read, so buy the book, suspend reality and just enjoy the reading.

I was super intrigued by the premise of this book, a girl who has grown up completely separate from society and the modern world. After her whole community become ill Arty our main character and Zeus must go into the'real' world and must try to figure out how they fit into this world as they realise there is no-one left in 'The Clearing' for them to go back to. I loved exploring the world for the first time in Arty's eyes and the things that went right and wrong. This is a remarkable story with a fantastic protagonist .

This is my first Emily Barr book. I feel like I’ve missed out, but chuffed to have found a new author’s books  to read!!

Arty has grown up in the woods with only 11 other people, they sleep in tree houses and are 1 big family. She has no inclination to leave but when something bad happens Arty has to leave her small community behind and go out into the big world that she has only ever read about. 

Alongside this story is about someone who is locked in a basement, who plans on how to escape. The link to these stories are later revealed even though I was desperately trying to guess!!

I loved this book, which proved that there are some Samaritans out there willing to help.

I was fully engrossed in this book,  Arty was a wonderful character struggling to find her way, not knowing who she can trust and what is the cryptic message “do not go into the basement” all about.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Another brilliant  book from this author. It doesn't matter that it was a YA novel I still loved it all the same. 
10/10

An unusual story. Art was born in a commune in India, cut off completely from the outside world until a mystery illness wipes out the whole community, leaving Art to find her own way in the outside world. Have now given this to my 13 year old daughter to read.

I really enjoyed this book, and have recommended that my daughter (12) read it too!

Arty was born in a remote commune in the woods (The Clearing), with no influence from the modern world and no contact with anyone other that the other members of the commune, she and her fellow  

One day, something terrible happens and Arty must leave The Clearing and venture out into the world.. 

At the same time that we are reading about the commune and how Arty manages outside The Clearing, we also read a story from the point of view of someone who is being kept in a basement against their will.

If this is Arty's narrative, or not - you'll just have to read the book to find out! 

Now to go and find some more by Emily Barr to read!

In the beginning it feels like the little community on the forest are there, isolated from the world because of some big disaster that they are escaping, something like war or disease. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that they are isolated by choice and that the thing they most want to escape is modern, patriarchal society. 
The community sounds perfect, with everyone pitching in and life bobbing gently along, with only one member every venturing out to the world.
However when things go wrong they do very wrong very quickly and suddenly Arty is out of the trees and into the thick of a world she has never seen or experienced.
This is both heart breaking and heart warming at the same time as Arty finds her way, gets taken in by manipulative strangers, discovers vehicles, cinema, phones and social media for the first time all the while trying to reunite with the boy she rescued from the community and with the mysterious Uncle Matthew.
The writing is very clever, sometimes leaving you unsure as to whose story or viewpoint you are hearing.
Ultimately a fascinating read that provokes discussion on the horrors of social media and how invasive it can be.

I thought this was a beautifully written story which really showed the innocence of someone who hasn't had any contact with the outside world and who has been brought up in a close knit matriarchal community, where they are "all gods and goddesses". The sub plot of the basement really had me guessing - I couldn't work out who it was about nor how they had got there. While some elements of the story felt a little far fetched, it didn't spoil what was overall a really engaging and enjoyable story.

I really like Emily Barr's style of writing, I found her last couple of books pretty addictive, but this one just didn't capture me as much. I still enjoyed it, and it was an interesting storyline, but it wasn't my favourite by comparison. It still has Emily's fantastic signature writing style and unique ideas and I will continue to read her books in the future with great interest and excitement.

The story is about Arty who has lived her entire life totally off the grid in India. When a virus decimates her community, she needs to venture into the world to find help. Not knowing who she can trust, Arty has to learn how to survive in a world she knows nothing about. Running in conjunction with Arty’s story, is the story of someone locked in a basement trying to figure out how to escape. I was unsure how the stories fit together but it becomes clear before the end.

An interesting and compelling storyline with several twists which made for an entertaining read.

Crikey. read some very negative reviews about THE GIRL WHO CAME OUT OF THE WOODS, and from my perspective, undeserved. For me, the beginning was a confusing. I think this was more to do with the world building than anything else, I couldn't work out where I was with it, or who I needed to champion, but then it is an unusual setup so is meant to be original. I persevered and I'm really glad I did. There's a lot of heart in the story and who's to say that what happened to Arty wouldn't happen. Let's face it, this is fiction, and yes, there were some improbables, but we get that in most fiction. Her acceptance of the outside world happened very quickly but I felt the book was a tad too long so...I don't know how long it would take someone to get used to things. Arty was smart, had been educated, and knew about most things even if she didn't have a personal connection before she left the clearing. I thought it was an original concept and well executed. Four stars from me, and thank you to Emily Barr, Penguin Random House and Net Galley for my copy.

I love Emily Barr's books so I was really looking forward to this one. I found the start very gripping. I loved the idea of a community voluntarily cut off from the modern world, and of a child growing up without knowing anything about how the 'normal' world works. I was with Arty all the way when she left and began to make her own way. But, the problem with this book is that, because the point of view of the 3rd person narrator is young and naive, it's (necessarily) written in a very young and naive style. After a while this begins to grate a bit. The voice is interspersed with a first person point of view but (I guess in an effort not to give the game away) these sections are short. I think this book would have worked better as a short story.

The blurb for this book sounds great. The beginning few chapters enjoyable but then it slows down I'm 40% in and I'm bored.  Sorry I can't finish this book when there are so many more out there to spend my time on.

I read this book in one day and really enjoyed it. I enjoyed reading about Arty facing her fears of the outside world after life in the Clearing and finding her place in the world. Her feelings of bemusement and her need to understand the modern world were well portrayed.

I felt for her and Zeus as they tried to work out how to mould themselves to this new world and deal emotionally with the loss of all that was familiar to them. 

The author develops some difficult themes - addiction (to social media and drugs), social inequalities and family breakdown. 

I found the interludes in the basement difficult to read - they did not appear to fit into the narrative but it resolves itself before the end and has pertinent significance.

The ending perhaps felt a little too good but I enjoyed it and it was good to finish on a ‘feel good’ moment.

I've actually given this 3.5 stars. I was really looking forward to this book and unfortunately it did disappoint me a little. It wasn't until around the 60% mark of the book that it actually got interesting and then I felt that after the plot twist (which to be fair was a pretty good twist which I didn't see coming) everything just seemed a little, I'm not sure I would say boring but it's the only word I can think of to describe the end part of the book.

Having said that I've got to say the research has very clearly been done for this book and the extensiveness of the research is brilliant. I really liked how Arty had no clue about the outside world, other than what she had gathered from books she had read. Overall I liked how Arty tackled the outside world and I loved the twist, but I don't think I would read it again.

A girl drags a young lad through the Indian jungle, when a lethal disease decimates the hippie commune they'd been living at.  Never having even met ten people before, the new world outside is certainly that – new.  She's heartbroken when authorities find his relatives, and he is flown to France for his new life.  She's adamant she can make her own mind up about what happens to her – after all, she would appear to be sixteen.  But what legacy has her stunted background left her with – and why is every second chapter a first-person narrative of someone wanting to break out of the basement they're kept a prisoner in?

This is certainly a distinctive thriller, albeit not as good as the author's first YA book (but then, little is).  Its attempts to be 'about' things grated at times, so when we get heavy-handed lessons about how bad social media is you feel like throttling the author and saying "yeah, uh-huh, we know – now, person in basement?!".  It certainly is a little too long.  And, despite one or two lovely call-back styled surprises later on, the big twist is far too guessable.  I think for the teenage audience that might not always be so, and they will be left with many vivid visuals from the Indian side of things, but for me it didn't feel quite as fresh as needed.  A slightly generous three and a half stars.