This was one of the best, most beautiful books of any genre that I have read in a very long time. Even though it dealt with painful, personal topics like divorce, anger, betrayal, self-worth, the meaning of work, and the value of work and how fairness is practiced in progressive marriages, it was written in vignettes and snippets, in gorgeous, poetic language that speaks directly to the heart. It had reminded me of things I had done in a previous marriage- contorting myself into someone I wasn't to fit in, or to make my husband happy- at the expense of losing myself and my own well-being. The vignettes ring true, and in seeing that truth, is affirming, healing, validating. I could barely put it down. I loved the construction of the words and sentences so much, I reread many of the passages. I too, was divorced, and had felt discarded, but even though I am a writer, I could not have expressed the depth of the loss, betrayal, pain, the questioning, the upending and upheaval of all that I thought was secure and sacred like Ms. Smith has. We who suffered through a divorce want and need to hear that our feelings are real and that we are not crazy, because that's how it feels sometimes. Brava, sister, thank you for writing this, and putting into words what the rest of us have felt, but could not. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My book, Redeemed, A Memoir of a Stolen Childhood will be published June 25, 2024.
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Or preorder here: Redeemed: A Memoir of a Stolen Childhood: Lane, Penny: 9781647427009: Amazon.com: Books
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