At thirty-six years old, Caitlin Myer is ready to start a family with her husband. She has left behind the restrictive confines of her Mormon upbringing and early sexual trauma and believes she is now living her happily ever after . . . when her body betrays her. In a single week, she suffers the twin losses of a hysterectomy and the death of her mother, and she is jolted into a terrible awakening that forces her to reckon with her past-and future.
This is the story of one woman's lifelong combat with a culture-her "escape" from religion at age twenty, only to find herself similarly entrapped in the gender conventions of the secular culture at large, conventions that teach girls and women to shape themselves to please men, to become good wives and mothers. The biblical characters Yael and Judith, wives who became assassins, become her totems as she evolves from wifely submission to warrior independence.
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[I AM FIFTY YEARS OLD and have just moved to a seaside town in Portugal]***
(@arcadepub, 21 July 2020, 264 pages, e-book, #ARC from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed)
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I'd never heard of the author before but I loved the cover of this book and the premise sounded good so I decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did. I got completely lost in this book which is gripping and was hard to put down once I'd started. It's a coming-of-age book of sorts full of heart-ache, adventure, love and a search for identity and a place in the world. I found out the author is also a poet which makes sense as the prose use in the book is beautifully written and every word held my attention. This book tackles a lot of bigger wide-world issues including the role of women in society and how to give your life a purpose but personalises these issues in an intimate way. I felt so connected to the author/narrator as I read. This is a great book. I'm glad I had a chance to read it.
