It’s a pleasure to be part of the blog tour for Clipped Wings by Jennifer Gilmour
The silent chorus.
Just imagine you thought that you had met the man or woman of your dreams. This person was charming and you thought they were the one or perhaps that this was fate; it was just meant to be.
But as the months go by things start to change. Their behaviour towards you isn’t the same, they are more critical, more particular about your appearance, what you do, how you do it, who you see. Time goes by and you feel isolated from yourfriends and family because that behaviour has now changed to threats, maybe violence and you feel that your identity is all but gone. But still you stay. Where would you go? Who would help you? You are not worthy.
But you are.
A group of survivors have spoken about their own experiences. In their own words they show that survivors do have a voice and that it needs to be heard. They show that abuse isn’t unique or strange but that it is, unfortunately, a surprisingly common problem in today’s society.
The message of this book is one of courage, as with courage comes awareness and an ability to understand what has happened to you and take the steps needed to become a survivor yourself.
ReviewIt’s not often I open my reviews with a trigger warning but in the case of Clipped Wings by Jennifer Gilmour I feel I must. This isn’t the usual fiction books you see featured here, this book is made up of the real life stories from survivors of domestic abuse.
You may wonder why I’ve chosen to feature this book when the subject matter is so disturbing. Well I’ll tell you. I feel quite strongly about this subject and believe that it needs to be discussed so that anyone who is, or has, suffered domestic violence knows that they are not alone and that they can survive. As you can imagine this isn’t an easy read but it was one that I determined to get to the end of.
Clipped Wings is collection of short stories told by survivors of domestic abuse and covers a range of perspectives. Each story is truly heartbreaking and as you are taken deeper into each person’s account, you can almost feel the pain and suffering that they have been subjected to. These people are some of the lucky ones (although it may not seem like that as you read their stories) as not all sufferers survive to tell the tale.
There are accounts from the male perspective too as they can also be victims of domestic abuse. Although to some this may seem amusing, I can assure you after reading their accounts that it is no laughing matter.
I can’t say that I enjoyed this book, but the bravery of the survivors in telling their tale compelled me to keep reading and I’m glad I did. I truly hope that this book helps to raise awareness of such a difficult subject.
Many thanks to Jennifer Gilmour and Emma Mitchell for my advanced reader copy and inviting me on the tour!
Amazon UK | Goodreads | Amazon US
About the Author
Born in the North East, Jennifer is a young, married mum with three children. In addition to being an author, she is an entrepreneur, running a family business from her home-base. Her blog posts have a large readership of other young mums in business.
From an early age, Jennifer has had a passion for writing and started gathering ideas and plot lines from her teenage years. A passionate advocate for women in abusive relationships, she has drawn on her personal experiences to write her first novel ‘Isolation Junction’. It details the journey of a young woman from the despair of an emotionally abusive and unhappy marriage to develop the confidence to challenge and change her life and to love again.
Since the publication of her debut novel Jennifer has continued to be an advocate for those in abusive relationships through her blog posts, radio interviews and Twitter feed. Jennifer also gained a qualification in facilitating a recover programme for those who have been in abusive relationships.
Jennifer continues to publicly support those who are isolated and struggle to have a voice. Jennifer hopes that ’Clipped Wings’ give’s a voice to survivor’s experiences and raise’s awareness further of the types of unacceptable behaviour which fall into the category of domestic abuse.
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