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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 11/2014
  • 978-1502381255 B00Q0CJAYO
  • 160 pages
  • $2.99
Paperback Details
  • 09/2014
  • 978-1502381255
  • 134 pages
  • $12.99
Diamante Lavendar
Author
Breaking The Silence
Based on a true story, a new novel from Diamante Lavendar. Joan Eastman was born like any other girl. However her life would prove to be a life of great pain… Growing up, she was treated differently by family members, powerless to defend herself against their sexual and psychological abuse. Feeling she had been dealt a wicked hand by the “powers that be”, she spiraled into substance abuse and troubled relationships. She became a victim of addiction and self-hatred. Not giving up, she becomes aware of a greater spiritual being that protects her and she begins to heal. Then she finds herself pregnant. She learns to understand nothing is hopeless; that with a changed view and self discovery, there is real hope in every situation, no matter how difficult. As she and her husband look forward to the birth of their child, she writes in her diary as a way of expelling all of the evil memories. On bed rest for the duration of her pregnancy, she endures tests and tribulations that at first she couldn’t begin to understand. But no matter how high the hurdles in Joan’s life are, she doesn’t look back, and pulls the pieces of her life together…for herself and her unborn child. This inspirational story speaks of Joan’s gradual self acceptance and healing of her body, mind and spirit. It speaks of the possibilities of the future and the fulfillment of the dream of love and family. And it speaks of jumping the hurdles in life without looking back, no matter how high those hurdles may be.
Reviews
Alana Munro

Rated 4 stars!

This compelling book speaks directly from the heart. Based on a true story, Joan is a young woman who has endured so much already. She's faced sexual abuse, addictions, abortion and the loss of a child. What I liked about this story is how the author weaves the story between the past and present. This is very cleverly done. We learn all about Joan and her painful past through a diary she is keeping whilst pregnant with her much longed for child. Joan has come far and she is appreciative and very reflective. There's lots of life lessons to digest and consider too. The only thing I found off putting was how much Joan talked about God. She has found much relief and joy in her belief of God, no doubt her beliefs have pulled her through. I can understand how 'grateful' she feels to have survived and she believes it is God who has saved her. But, I felt a little bit frustrated with Joan as I felt she was doing her own inner strength a disservice. All in all, a very powerful, heart-breaking and deep read. You'll need some tissues handy!

Diane Donovan, Senior Editor of Midwest Book Review

Rated 5 stars!  An editorial review by Diane Donovan of Midwest Book Review!

Joan Eastman is put on bed rest for the length of her uncertain pregnancy and buys a diary to occupy her time and Breaking the Silence is what she reveals in her diary: a saga of growing up repressing psychological and sexual cruelty and falling into substance abuse as one reflection of the self-hatred she feels.

Plenty of fiction and nonfiction sagas stop here, chronicling that abuse and its lasting impact; but the strength of Breaking the Silence lies in its ability to proceed past the pain to the other side, using the forthcoming birth of Eastman's child and her diary to foster the process of moving beyond past injustices into healing.

Any who have struggled with past abuse, wondering how to shake its shackles and move into a future unencumbered by past tragedy, will relish the first-person diary entries in Breaking the Silence, which follows a way out of the maze. It's a powerful saga of a woman determined to undertake the work that will truly release her from self-destructive patterns and reactions that pass between generations.

Juxtaposing the progression of pregnancy with life lessons learned from her experiences, Joan's story is a haunting survey of life, death, and everything in between, and a powerful saga not for those who would lead the unexamined life; but especially recommended for readers struggling with their own dark pasts and its implications for the future.

Plenty of stories capture the experience. Too few chart the course between devastation and destruction to spiritual and emotional rebirth. Breaking the Silence is one such gem - and is a top revelation especially recommended for spirituality readers who want an account of finding not just a way out, but God.

I Heart Reading

Rated 4 stars!

In Breaking the Silence, the reader follows the life of Joan, a woman who has been through so much it’s a miracle she’s still alive and kicking. She suffered through sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of family members. After that, she struggled with substance abuse and ended up from one bad relationship into another. Hating herself, afraid of facing the past, each day is a struggle for her.

But then, Joan finds herself pregnant. She finds strength in her pregnancy, the strength to heal and reinvent herself, the strength to find hope, even in hopeless situations. While pregnant, she writes in her diary about the wicked things she went through as a child, as a way for her to heal.

The author describes Joan’s traumatic experiences well, and the scenes that deal with her childhood are horrifying and made me feel instantly sorry for Joan, and the harsh life she’d led. I wanted her to be happy but the road to happiness was long and difficult, and every time, another hurdle was sent her way, but Joan kept on going, finding more strength than I thought she had. She changes a lot throughout the book, becoming an almost different person by the end of it, having dealt with her trauma and starting to heal.

An inspiring journey into a woman’s mind about how to deal with trauma, how to heal, and how to find hope even when everything else seems hopeless. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Morgan Van Straten

Rated 5 stars

Breaking the Silence is a personal journey for both the author and reader. The narrator does a wonderful job guiding the reader through her life experiences as she relinquishes her dark memories and bares her soul for her audience. Joan Eastman is a struggling mother-to-be trying to focus on keeping her pregnancy healthy and try to cope with her past trauma that she faced when she was a child. The time she spends at home preparing for her unborn baby, she takes the time to write down in her diary entries and vividly explores her childhood and teenage years.
Joan’s direct experiences with her abusers are profoundly real and could drag anyone who has never experienced this kind of trauma in a dark abyss of emotional turmoil. When I read through those moments, I almost could feel someone clawing at me and smiling with malice. This is a kind of anger and fear that should be understood by everyone in order to expose the evil for what it is instead of masking or hiding it away.
Diamante Lavendar truly understands the cruelty of what the human race has to offer as well as the true beauty of life. The themes that play out in her novel are quite clear such as God. However, it is not just the religious context behind the entity; God falls under Joan’s own spirituality and becomes her own personal muse of protecting her from falling any deeper into hell. A hell where her own abusers dug themselves into and have no pure guidance or possess any form of empathy.
The writing style is easy to follow and the narrator’s voice is clear for the reader. It’s broken into diary entries and separated parts with Life Lessons in between the story breaks.
It might be painful for some to read, however, it definitely gives an insight on someone's specific experience.

Virginia McCullough

Rated 5 stars

I was given a copy of this book as a gift, mostly because the person who gave it to me thought it said so much about the power of writing to help a person heal psychological wounds and even addiction. In this case, the narrator, who is given the name Joan, has suffered abuse and cruelty, addiction and loss. She used a diary to record her feelings about childhood memories that shaped her life, and goes through this process when she's got dreams of her own to pursue. But I also saw that in using a diary, especially when Joan was put on bed rest during a pregnancy, had a way of strengthening her faith. In fact, she draws important life lessons from the writing she does, which readers will find valuable, regardless of their past experiences. Overall, the message of the book is that it's never too late to heal. I also think the author/narrator shows that healing the wounds of the past takes time and patience, and a willingness to do the work of admitting and coming back from mistakes. The book has much to recommend it on many levels.

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 11/2014
  • 978-1502381255 B00Q0CJAYO
  • 160 pages
  • $2.99
Paperback Details
  • 09/2014
  • 978-1502381255
  • 134 pages
  • $12.99
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