Rust & Stardust
Rust & Stardust is based on the true-life 1948 kidnapping of 11-year-old Florence “Sally” Horner by a child molester, Frank LaSalle, the same crime that inspired Nabokov’s Lolita.
To impress a group of girls who had been bullying her, Sally shoplifted a five-cent notebook from a store in New Jersey. LaSalle, impersonating a federal officer and calling himself Mr. Warner, frightened the young girl into thinking that she would be arrested unless she came with him, promising that he could get her an expedited court date for her heinous “crime.” Astonishingly, he convinced Sally’s mother that he was the father of Sally’s friend, and her mother delivered her into the hands of LaSalle, thinking she was accompanying a friend on a beach vacation.
For several years, LaSalle moved Sally around the country, even enrolling her in school, uprooting her every time the authorities began to get close. Back at home, her mother, older sister, and brother-in-law worked with the authorities to try to bring Sally home
While the storyline is grim and terrifyingly disturbing, the writing is poignant and the story is nothing short of spellbinding. Sally’s vulnerability in believing LaSalle, her desire to be accepted, and her gradual realization that she is in a very dangerous situation make for a heartbreaking but riveting reading experience.
