An Inspiring Story of Abuse and Unimaginable Perseverance
In The Stormy Side of Theodocia, author Theodocia McLean describes the first twenty-three years of her life with vivid detail and uncompromising honesty.
We first meet this well-mannered young animal lover as a two-year-old in 1956.
She is twice adopted and known as Theo, as her full name is not revealed to her until she is sixteen.
She is an average child with normal problems like bedwetting and carsickness.
She enjoys everything that girls her age enjoy like dolls and kittens and dressing up.
McLean draws you in with her exceptional descriptive skill.
You feel like you are one of her friends playing with her in the playhouse, riding bikes and taking turns on the swing.
The warm memories bring fond thoughts of your own childhood.
Then the scene hits hard and deep as pre-teen Theo is the victim of sexual assault by an older neighbor boy.
This isn't the only instance of this type of abuse.
It happens repeatedly, leaving the reader sad, disturbed and even angry.
Where are the parents, teachers, the church, and other adults? None come to Theo's aid.
There are many traumas-some by others and some by cruel fate.
All leave a lasting scar.
Instead she is shipped off to a private school where blue-eyed children were blatantly favored over brown-eyed children like her.
Where children are punished for feeling sick and the punishment is a day confined to bed with nothing more than buttered crackers to eat.
This is more than a retelling of abuse and neglect.
This is an inspirational story of unimaginable perseverance.
Many of us, if forced to experience these terrible traumas at such a young age, might find escape as an adult in alcohol or drugs or give up entirely.
Not Theodocia McLean She shows a colossal level of courage and determination to survive and to flourish.
She marries the love of her life and soon has a son.
Marriage and motherhood bring a measure of stability and love to her life that she had not known.
She begins to worry about the loss of sizeable chunks of time in her day.
In the last few pages, the family is packed and moving again and we are left to wonder if the time lapses and interrupted concentration are the first symptoms of future problems caused by the many traumas.
In closing, McLean tells about a diagnosis of Bi-Polar Disorder and a later diagnosis of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder).
The tone is set for the upcoming Stormy Journey; a sequel featuring the network of personalities that live inside her.
The strength needed to write her story, reliving each painful moment, is extraordinary.
Hard to put down and impossible to forget, I highly recommend that you read The Stormy Side of Theodocia.
ISBN: 978-1-4303-2580-2 Copyright 2007 Published by Lulu
We first meet this well-mannered young animal lover as a two-year-old in 1956.
She is twice adopted and known as Theo, as her full name is not revealed to her until she is sixteen.
She is an average child with normal problems like bedwetting and carsickness.
She enjoys everything that girls her age enjoy like dolls and kittens and dressing up.
McLean draws you in with her exceptional descriptive skill.
You feel like you are one of her friends playing with her in the playhouse, riding bikes and taking turns on the swing.
The warm memories bring fond thoughts of your own childhood.
Then the scene hits hard and deep as pre-teen Theo is the victim of sexual assault by an older neighbor boy.
This isn't the only instance of this type of abuse.
It happens repeatedly, leaving the reader sad, disturbed and even angry.
Where are the parents, teachers, the church, and other adults? None come to Theo's aid.
There are many traumas-some by others and some by cruel fate.
All leave a lasting scar.
Instead she is shipped off to a private school where blue-eyed children were blatantly favored over brown-eyed children like her.
Where children are punished for feeling sick and the punishment is a day confined to bed with nothing more than buttered crackers to eat.
This is more than a retelling of abuse and neglect.
This is an inspirational story of unimaginable perseverance.
Many of us, if forced to experience these terrible traumas at such a young age, might find escape as an adult in alcohol or drugs or give up entirely.
Not Theodocia McLean She shows a colossal level of courage and determination to survive and to flourish.
She marries the love of her life and soon has a son.
Marriage and motherhood bring a measure of stability and love to her life that she had not known.
She begins to worry about the loss of sizeable chunks of time in her day.
In the last few pages, the family is packed and moving again and we are left to wonder if the time lapses and interrupted concentration are the first symptoms of future problems caused by the many traumas.
In closing, McLean tells about a diagnosis of Bi-Polar Disorder and a later diagnosis of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder).
The tone is set for the upcoming Stormy Journey; a sequel featuring the network of personalities that live inside her.
The strength needed to write her story, reliving each painful moment, is extraordinary.
Hard to put down and impossible to forget, I highly recommend that you read The Stormy Side of Theodocia.
ISBN: 978-1-4303-2580-2 Copyright 2007 Published by Lulu