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Beth has composed a stirring memoir expressing her deep religious convictions while vividly depicting a childhood marred by abuse. Born to a plain-living family of Old Order Mennonites for whom church and obedience to its tenets were a major factor, Beth was starkly aware from her earliest years that her mother was an uncaring, maligning figure, continually punishing her and her siblings for no apparent reason. Her father, both rational and kind, did not generally intervene and sometimes supported his wife's negative stances, so the girl experienced a sense of darkness and hopelessness for many years as she struggled to find purpose.
She took solace in caring for her younger siblings and in reading, imagining herself as the happy characters she found in books. But at night she dreaded the sound of her mother's footsteps ascending the stairs, knowing that she or one of her siblings was going to be battered. Her mother complimented her once, and that was never forgotten. Still, Beth was encumbered with fear and a sense of undeserved guilt, gradually subsiding as she matured and immersed herself in spiritual teachings. Surviving a chaotic marriage and receiving counsel from a female friend, she began to envision a more promising life, guided by God, whose influence would lead her to a new understanding and to her resolution to sincerely forgive all those who mistreated her.
Beth candidly shares her life history and its spiritual trajectory in hope of aiding readers who may face similar distresses in their efforts to recall and comprehend childhood abuses and the self-abnegation that often accompanies such inexplicable torments. Her vibrant presentation of overcoming maltreatment is framed by dramatic, credible sequences that underscore her talent as a wordsmith, motivating her readers to understand and apply her wise declarations and offering possibilities for a brighter future.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review