Valerie seemed apprehensive before I began my read of her work `The Gift of Joy'. She can certainly breathe a little easier, her work supports her conviction; I felt every moment of the love she put into it. Don't think powerful is a pat phrase to use in describing it, it is powerful, and much more, for a lot of reasons.
The story is very intimate. It could be called a `roman à clef', but she assured me, it is not her story, Joy is fictional. It is well enough that the story is lived every day, by millions of women and children. It is real life, and there is the power within it. I recognized the frightened child's guilt Joy carried into her adult life, in about the same way that Joy felt it herself.
The emotions it gave me, were: sympathy, pleasure, fear, surprise, sadness, relief, angst, doubt, surprise, joy, terror, doubt, joy. In just about that order. Are you surprised I can place those emotions? Don't be surprised. That is close to the pace of the book, and it swells with those emotions at times. It is a deeply romantic story, every element of that definition exists, and those elements are very well played.
What did surprise me though, I kept the mental image of the doubtful, guilty little girl, throughout the entire story. So much so - she is so completely drawn - that I felt some shyness at the mature passages of the text. Joy holds her childhood terror almost as shields, and it was difficult to let her try to release them. When I read those passages through, and realized how important that intimacy was to Joy, letting go, to begin healing her own heart...I lost the shyness about it, and was glad for her.
The anguish of it all, and that is the final emotion, is found in the final plea Valerie makes; that we not turn away from emotional and physical abuse. Too many families suffer there, and some are sadly broken beyond repair. I may be a sympathetic ear for her lesson here. I have witnessed enough, first hand, to feel those pains. The author hopes to reach more with her loving work, and give some hope there, and I share my sincere support that she will.
'The Gift of Joy' is superb, I am very pleased to know it, and help Valerie Maarten share its message.
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