Gravity Flow The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb, Walk With Me One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee, Penthesilea Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise, The Bluestockings A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson, Violeta by Nikki Roman

Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb, Walk With Me: One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H Lee, Penthesilea: Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise, The Bluestockings: A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson, Violeta by Nikki Roman 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

These are summaries. The full reviews can be found on Reader Views or MockingOwl Roost 

Reader Views 

Gravity Flow: The Jimmy Whistler Stories by EM Schorb 

This is a seriocomic anthology of various moments in the life of Jimmy Whistler, a writer, in the 50's-60's.

The covers Jimmy's troubled childhood, his time working in a burlesque theater, military career, writing career, his friends, lovers, children, and other important experiences.

Characterization is this book's strongest asset. Jimmy's experiences are told by various vignettes that describe events in his life. He encounters many eccentric characters including a burlesque performer, a Beatnik poet, and different lovers.

The book is told through Jimmy's point of view so we see the world through his eyes. Most of the characters are broad, farcical, and bizarre. Jimmy's narrative voice is arrogant, impulsive, but always fascinating.

 

Walk With Me One Hundred Days of Crazy by Ernesto H. Lee

This is a powerful evocative novel about life, love, death, and learning to appreciate life.

Mark Rennie and Karen McKenzie are both dying. Instead of just waiting for the inevitable, they decide to spend 100 days traveling and enjoying themselves before the end.

The book is a descriptive travel guide of different experiences like dancing in Cuba, walking across the Great Wall of China, and swimming with sharks in Cancun. It is a scenic itinerary of exciting adventures and experiences.

It also captures how people face death in different ways. Some want to do everything medically possible to prolong their lives while others would rather face death on their own terms. There is no one way to face this conflict and all are valid.

Penthesilea: Rise of An Amazon by Stephanie Vanise 

This is a powerful and gripping Historical Fiction novel about a young Amazon, Penthesilea during the Trojan War.

She is third of four daughters of the Queen of Amazon. Penthesilea lives in the shadow of her other sisters and struggles to find her own identity in war.

Various characters and events from Greek Mythology appear including Hippolyta, Hercules, Paris, Helen of Troy, and Achilles. They are made more complex in this adaptation as Vanise captures their psyches and inner conflicts.

Penthesilea in particular is looking for recognition in a powerful war like family. She strives to empower herself and stand out. She strives to be one of a kind not one of hundreds.

MockingOwl Roost 

The Bluestockings: A History of The First Women's Movement by Susannah Gibson 

This is a fascinating Historical Nonfiction account of the Bluestockings, a group of 18th century women who hosted salons, encouraged creative talents, and discussed politics, philosophy and other topics in which women were discouraged from discussing.

These women supported one another in their creative pursuits like writing and art. These were women whose voices might otherwise have not been heard. They also had unconventional lives where some married supportive men, had Lesbian relationships, or opted not to marry at all.

The Bluestockings did not last very long but they were an influence for many women like Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Elizabeth Gaskell who in turn inspired the various waves of Feminism. Women's History would have been very different without them.

Violeta by Nikki Roman 

This is a Gothic Literature novel that focuses on child abuse, trauma, and finding ones personal power and independence.

Violet Valentine is isolated by her mother who keeps her secluded from the outside world. Her only contact is with her brother, Tommy. The toxic situation explodes when their mother puts both children'a lives in danger.

Violeta involves the anxieties that are found in families particularly between parents and children and siblings. The Valentine Family engage in continuous conflict, emotional and psychological instability, and fragile dysfunction. 

The siblings are confined and battered by their mother’s volatile and abusive behavior so they can only rely on each other. They support each other to break from her, recognize their comfort, strength, and independence, and find sanctuary and a real home.

In The House of Root and Rot (The Altered Planes Book 2) by Sam Weiss; Between Life and Death Lies Confusion and Surreality

 

In The House of Root and Rot (The Altered Planes Book 2) by Sam Weiss; Between Life and Death Lies Confusion and Surreality

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Normally I get very uncomfortable when I read the second book in a series without reading the first. I often compare it to butting into the middle of a conversation and missing the opening or hearing the punchline of a joke and missing the set up.

Some authors consciously know that not everyone reads series in order so they compensate for that. Mystery authors often make their books stand alone while having occasional subplots carry over from volume to volume. Other genre authors summarize the events prior in the introduction or have the characters provide exposition for what happened before. 

Even when authors provide that assistance, it can be a confusing surreal situation to read the second book first. It can be frustrating but sometimes, as in the case of In The House of Root and Rot, the second book in Sam Weiss’ The Altered Planes series, that confusion and surrealism actually works. 

Will Deadmarsh (a name that is on the nose for a Horror novel but has a delightful ghoulish ring to it) is the only survivor in a family that is cursed by death according to his grandfather, Houl. Will’s mother died in childbirth. His father and twin sister got into a car collision which resulted in his immediate death and her coma and eventual death. Houl, had a stroke but is not responsive leaving Will to take care of the once cantankerous verbally abusive senior.

Atra Hart (another meaningful surname) has escaped from a psychiatric hospital with her scientist father, Tom. She was subjected to scientific experiments that Tom rescued her from while shooting her primary doctor, Dr. Glasser. As the two hide, Tom’s erratic behavior becomes negligent and borderline abusive so when Atra is put into a dangerous situation, she escapes. By chance, Atra encounters Will as he is questioning the aftermath of a sleep study in which his sister, Lex, returned from the dead and Houl disappeared. Finding their lives in danger possibly by the same people, Atra and Will go on with Lex in tow.

As I mentioned before, reading the series out of sequence adds and actually increases the confusion and surrealism that surrounds the characters and the Reader. Somehow it makes the events that much scarier when we don't know what's going on any more than the characters do.

We are given some exposition in the opening chapters. We are told that Atra was a guinea pig in a scientific experiment to explore life after death, particularly the spirit world called The Otherside. She can travel through a portal called The Altered Planes which is between life and death. She also has a piece of death inside her called Dread which appears as a sentient shadow. 

We also learn over the course of the book that Will's family was also involved in the experiments hence the frequent deaths and Lex's post mortem reappearance. But the exposition is few and far between and still leaves a lot of gaps and unanswered questions.

Under normal circumstances, alternating point of view chapters, flashbacks, and back stories put Readers ten steps ahead of the protagonists. This book however puts us two steps ahead of the characters at most. Because of this, Readers are unprepared for the weirdness without any information. We are just as startled when these things happen such as when Lex returns in an emaciated corpse form and taunts and threatens her twin brother. 

Her insults might have been gentle sibling ribaldry and teasing when she was alive. But now there is something savage and menacing about her words. She mentally creates confusion and suspicion within Will which leaves him emotionally isolated. It's possible that the price of Lex’s return was her soul. 

Lex isn't the only sinister paranormal presence. There are creatures that appear in and out of shadows and feed off of fear and negative emotions. They pass down through family generations. Will eventually learns such a spirit is attached to the Deadmarsh Family. Dread is similar to these creatures as it too has chaotic motivations and commits violent actions. It's hard for Will and Atra to hide from spirits that are within their brain, blood, and DNA.

Will and Atra are face to face with these spirits that can't be studied or understood. Indeed, part of the reason for their appearance is out of defiance of human scientists arrogantly researching them and expecting them to be contained. If they can't be studied and can't be contained, then they can't be defeated or killed. In fact, since they are associated with death, they are more than likely death itself or representatives of the end of life. So the only options are to try to run from them or learn to live with them.

The confusion lies not only within the characters but the setting. Some of the eeriest moments occur during Will and Atra’s road trip. They stop at small towns that are unnervingly silent with no one at gas stations, convenience stores, driving on the highway. There are buildings and vehicles, but they stand empty of people inside them. It's like a movie set that is supposed to imitate familiarity but fails at it. It only adds to the tension and puts the two in even more potential danger as their worst fears multiply in the silence.

What is even more sinister and disconcerting is that Will and Atra can't find respite in the human world any more than they can in the Otherside. I have often said that sometimes humans can be more frightening and more sinister than any supernatural creature and this book shows that.

Both Will and Atra have histories of abuse, loss, neglect, abandonment and so does the whole book.This book has parents experimenting on their own children, abusive family heads keeping a tight psychological grip on the rest of the family, people falling into poverty, despair, and desperation, victims becoming physically and mentally battered to the point of death, narcissistic guardians controlling their children for their own means, people betraying others out of avarice and ignorance, children being neglected and physically or psychologically abandoned by once trusted authority figures and family members, multiple incidents of gaslighting, physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse.

If nothing else, In The House of Root and Rot shows us that The Otherside might be filled with terrifying spirits and visions but the Human World is filled with the anxieties of everyday living. You don't need to read Book 1 to understand that. 

Justified Anger by Jennifer Colne; Sobering Account of the Effects of Molestation and Incest on a Family

 Justified Anger by Jennifer Colne; Sobering Account of the Effects of Molestation and Incest on a Family 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: It can be difficult for a family when one of their members is the victim of a crime. Sometimes the crime affects more than just the one who was hurt. It can affect everyone around them and fill them with feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, trauma, denial, and activism. Worse than that would be if the perpetrator was a family member as well. The actions and consequences can split a family apart as they take sides.

That is the situation faced by Jennifer Colne in her memoir, Justified Anger. This is a sobering, and unnerving book about the effects of child molestation and incest on her family.

Colne begins her book describing the troubles facing her daughters in 2001 when her eldest Katherine had been hospitalized for mental health problems and her younger daughter, Emma, lost custody of her children in a draining court battle with her abusive ex. This custody fight would lead to Emma being hospitalized as well after a suicide attempt and severe flashbacks. During one of these flashbacks Emma revealed that she was raped by her Uncle David. Later Katherine confessed that the same thing happened to her. David was arrested and charged with counts of rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault. Unfortunately that's not the end of the story. Emma was convinced that she was blocking something from her mind. After a few years and a second marriage, Emma remembered what it was. She was not only raped and molested by her Uncle but by her father, Steve as well.

Colne’s intense descriptions of her daughters' abuse and the aftermath including their fractured mental states reach into the Reader’s souls and understand the pain that this family went through and in many ways are still going through. The abusers left their marks leaving their victims in fragile states unable to cope with many of the stresses in their lives. 

It wasn't just the initial crime of sexual assault that made David and Steve monsters. It was the continuous after effects that created a lifetime of trauma from two innocent girls who were hurt by men that they should have trusted to protect and love them. Katherine and Emma suffered physical, mental, and emotional scars that never fully healed as they got older. They were in tears, raged, and engaged in self harm and addictive behaviors. 

One of the most painful chapters occurs years later when Emma, surrounded by her mother, children, and husband, regresses to a childlike state. Her memories of her childhood were muddled with those of her children. She couldn't separate the past from the present, referred to people in her children's lives by names of people that she knew as a child, could not recall recent memories, or recognize her children in their photos. Skills that she was adept in like cooking became unknown to her. She regressed to a mental child in an adult body. Steve not only robbed his daughter of her childhood by molesting her. He and his brother in law robbed her of her adulthood by replacing a fulfilled life of a good career, happy marriage, secure home, loving children with one of terror, fractured mental states, impulsive dangerous behavior, and internal misery. 

David and especially Steve did more long term damage. They didn't just destroy Katherine and Emma. They broke apart their whole family. Even though the sisters were on the same side in accusing and charging David, they stood on opposite sides when it came to Steve. Colne supported Emma's account recalling earlier moments of sexual, verbal, and physical abuse that her former husband inflicted on her. That was more than Katherine did.

Katherine refused to accept that her own father raped her sister. She claimed that Emma was a liar and was trying to get attention. It is bizarre that a woman who had been sexually assaulted by one family member and developed emotional and psychological problems would not be more empathetic towards her sister who had been going through the same thing. Emma’s state clearly showed that she had been abused if not by their father then by somebody. But unlike her mother who recognized the signs and confirmed Emma's account, Katherine blatantly ignored them and defiantly venerated her father.

Katherine's denial might have been a means to protect herself psychologically and might have been understandable. But the volatile extremes that she went through to discredit Emma are less defensible. She not only purposely sided with her father but influenced other family members to do the same such as her and Emma's younger brother Colne's son, Liam and Emma's own estranged children. They cut not only Emma out of their lives but Colne as well removing themselves of a sister, niece, and mother but also a mother, aunt, and grandmother. 

We don't get any understanding of Katherine's transition from defender and fellow victim to antagonist because it is told by Colne and she clearly doesn't know either. There might be speculation from the Reader but nothing known or said. Instead, Katherine and the rest of Steve's defenders having so much vehement animosity towards his accusers can be seen as yet another crime that can be laid at Steve's feet.

Justified Anger is a realistic book about trauma. People don't always recover after one hospitalization or breakthrough. It sometimes takes many stays and they can exhibit the same behaviors for years and even decades afterwards. Sometimes perpetrators don't get the punishment that they deserve. Sometimes the story doesn't end with hugs and reconciliation. Sometimes it ends with making peace with oneself and that's how Colne ends her book. Her family is still broken. Emma may still have psychological problems. Katherine is still estranged from the rest of the family. But Colne and Emma have made peace with themselves and have strengthened their connections as mother and daughter.

For now, that's enough.

Virtuous Women by Ann Goltz; Contemporary Literature Novel Skewers Religion, Cults, and Restrictive Traditional Gender Roles

 Virtuous Women by Ann Goltz; Contemporary Literature Novel Skewers Religion, Cults, and Restrictive Traditional Gender Roles

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Now we return to a favorite topic of this blog: Religion and Religious Cults. The Quiverfull Movement is a Christian theological position which encourages marital procreation with the intent to create large families. Its followers abstain from contraceptives, family planning, and sterilization reversal. Among the most famous, or rather infamous, adherents are Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of reality television fame. 

Virtuous Women by Ann Goltz is a brilliant Contemporary Literature Novel that skewers religious cults and the Quiverfull Movement by showing the detrimental effect that they have on the women who are involved within them. In a time when women’s rights are eroding because of interference from Christian Evangelicals, the dangers that such a strict environment can bring cannot be stressed enough. 

Hope Wagner is the oldest girl in a religious family of ten children. Because of her status, she has to fill the motherly role towards caring for her younger siblings left by the death of their mother. However she is soon to approach the marrying age of 18 and her father, Michael will be left without a housekeeper. The elders of the Church of the Covenant order Michael to get remarried and they have the perfect candidate. Enter Jennifer Levine, a newcomer to the Church from an outsider background.

Goltz’s writing is brilliant with how she captures how people fall into such Fundamentalism and how people can be destroyed when they religiously (pun not intended) follow such a path.What is fascinating about the first half of the book is that the Church of the Covenant seems deceptively alright.

If you read a lot of Inspirational Fiction or watch a lot of Hallmark Holiday Rom Coms, you might recognize the pattern: Big city career woman with secret longing for a simple life finds herself in a cute old fashioned town with good old fashioned values. She meets a handsome rugged salt-of-the-earth local, usually a widower with children. Complications ensue but she decides to ditch her old life behind, stay in the town, marry the local, and conform to his ways. Expect quirky locals, beautiful natural settings, a sob story about the couple in question, detailed Holiday seasons, and definitely a trip or two or three to church to remind you that yes these are Faith-driven locals. 

That's all present in Virtuous Women, but something seems off about it. The Wagners seem at first like a decent family albeit very strict. Some details like the kids being home schooled could be attributed to their Conservative upbringing. They seem to be in a community whose members genuinely look out for and communicate with each other. Michael might be stern but he is honest and appears free of religious hypocrisy. 

 In this fast paced world of immediate gratification, ever present technology, and gloomy and doom-driven news, it's understandable why someone like Jennifer would want to be a part of this life, especially someone like Jennifer.

Jennifer is the type of modern woman who has the past in a nostalgia filter. She reads Classic Literature and wears vintage clothing. She works as a nanny and secretly resents her employer’s affluent attention seeking lifestyle. Her career driven parents were more interested in obtaining wealth and status than parenting. She is the type probably much like many of her Readers, who would like to go into a time machine, travel to the past, and stay there. But her vision of the past is not the same as the reality.

There are some early red flags that suggest that life in this Church isn't all that was originally advertised. Those signs are designed to make the hair stand on the back of the mind and eyes narrow in suspicion wondering what Jennifer is getting herself into.

 There's an early moment where Hope is assaulted on her way home from grocery shopping and her father blames her for the attack. There is the moment where Jennifer enters the church wearing period clothing but one that is too ornate and showy for the plain clothes congregation. There are plans to marry Hope off right away to Joel, a young man who comes from another family of believers even though she's only 18 and her younger sisters are also preparing for their future weddings. One of the biggest warnings occurs after Jennifer uses her money to buy her future stepdaughter’s wedding dresses and Michael becomes furious and physically violent, accusing Jennifer of violating his commands as the man of the house. They are present and definitely can't be ignored. It doesn't take long for Jennifer to realize that she may have gotten the old fashioned life that she thought that she wanted but she also got all that came with it including Christian Nationalism and subjugation towards women.

Jennifer is an example of someone from the outside who stumbles into a cult where everything is new and fresh to her and all rules have to be explained. Since she is so new, she questions everything around her when her suspicions and concerns manifest themselves. She sees a patriarchal system where women are second class citizens. Where God's love and forgiveness is minimized and his judgemental wrath and punishment are emphasized. Where education is limited to only what the church allows to be taught and advancement is diminished for boys and practically non-existent for girls. Where distrust in the government is so high that they don't go to hospitals even if they're dying or seek welfare when they are starving. Where girls are raised solely to be wives and mothers and are ordered to breed lots of children and have no choice in the matter. Once Jennifer realizes the dangers that she has gotten herself into, she begins to look for a way out.

Jennifer may have been thrust into the Church of the Covenant but another character reveals the pain of having been born into it: Hope who, after Jennifer leaves the book, becomes the primary protagonist. She had been raised by her father and the Church and never knew any other life. Her brainwashing began so early that she doesn't acknowledge that's what it is. Every time she mildly questions her upbringing, slightly disagrees with the lessons being taught, or considers a career in midwifery, she believes that she is sinning and that she needs to pray and read the Bible to seek attrition. She isn't even allowed the freedom to disagree or think for herself in her own mind. Her father's church has her convinced that as a woman, she is a weak vessel who needs to be controlled and made submissive.

Those nagging worrisome doubts that came into Hope’s head and then disappeared come to surface with the arrival of Jennifer and her subsequent marriage to her father. Suddenly those doubts come in a human form that becomes a catalyst for Hope finding her own independence. She sees the life that she has complacently accepted as one that imprisons and restrains those within it. The seemingly charming old fashioned plot gives way to something darker, more sinister, and more realistic than the life Jennifer imagined and Hope lived with every day.

With such a savage take down of cults, I sort of expected the book to climax in a violent and bloodthirsty manner which resulted in the death of the cult. That is not actually what happens. The cult instead destroys itself. It is destroyed from within as young members grow up and break free from their programming and older members refuse to go beyond their rigid beliefs to accommodate and adapt to the changing world.  

The Wagner Family themselves implode as the children fall into early death, domestic violence, unwanted pregnancy, estrangement, elopement, and rebellion. Some leave and then come back penitent. Others settle into unhappy marriages in which they outwardly follow the values in which they were raised but now makes them inwardly miserable. They become aware that their rigid religious upbringing left them unprepared for the world and in many ways was responsible for the troubles in which they found themselves. 

The only way that some of the Wagner Children can receive any type of fulfillment and contentment is to leave the Church and their family and make a clean break from the way of life in which they were raised. 

Virtuous Women is the type of book that reminds us that religion can be a good thing in small doses but for all too many, it is used as a means of control and oppression. Sometimes the most courageous, faithful, and virtuous thing that a person can do is live outside of and out speak against it.

Weekly Reader: Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by Dave A. Neuman; A Surreal Bizarre Fantastic Trip Through Nightmares, Bad Memories, and Other Strangeness

 

Weekly Reader: Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity by Dave A. Neuman; A Surreal Bizarre Fantastic Trip Through Nightmares, Bad Memories, and Other Strangeness 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Dave A. Neuman's Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity is one of those types of books that is almost too surreal to be believed. There are moments that seem so disconnected from the reality of the pages of a book that I wasn't sure whether they were actually in the book itself or I dreamt it as being part of the book. 

It's a strange bizarre trip of a narrative but it is impossible to forget once it's over. It's one of those types of books that you will mull about for days wondering about the various moments and what they meant.

In 2011, solar flares drove South Australia, particularly the town of Adelaide into near chaos. Communication was down, electricity was erratic, and strange almost supernatural things happened. Among the people who lived through that strange event are Bob and Sue Triplow. 

After the weirdness passes, the two move to Corona, California, have a son named Joshua, and become regular members of the community. Twelve years  after the solar flares, weirdness follows the Triplows and everyone else, I mean everyone around the world. 

This introduction is fascinating as it draws from many unexplained phenomena stories that suggest that the solar flare encounter and what happens in the book are only the latest events in a long string of things that happened over time that are somehow linked together. 

Before we read about the Adelaide Solar Flares, we are told about a man in the Victorian Era who stepped back into Medieval Europe. It makes one wonder if in this Universe, many of these phenomena are part of this situation. Can we attribute the Bermuda Triangle, creatures like Bigfoot, Time Slips, UFOs, alien abductions, and ghost sightings to these events? The plot widens the scope and gives reason to the strange bizarreness, making these seemingly random global events not so random.

After the introduction, we get the first strange event in the narrative proper. Joshua and several of his schoolmates have tense nightmares of a strange man in a dark suit observing them. The nightmares are so prevalent that Joshua and his peers suffer through the day. They move sluggishly, are afflicted with dark circles under their eyes, and have no energy. They look and act like they went several rounds with Freddy Krueger during the night.

What is particularly compelling about these nightmares is that the mysterious man in black never does anything physical to these kids. He never even talks to them (except Josh begins to hear taunting in his head that might be from this nightmarish apparition). He sits next to them and takes notes as though he is studying and observing them for some unknown reason.

His presence is just enough to terrify them. It's sort of like the child who swears that the Boogeyman is in their room. Then Mom and Dad come in and say no that's just a pile of clothes, but he's not convinced

Only in this book's case, the pile of clothes really is a terrifying monster.

This by any means isn't the only strange thing that is happening. As the book continues, we are subjected to a lot of weird incidents around the world that seem unconnected but we later find out really are.

An Englishwoman spontaneously combusts. A township in Brazil just vanished. A house with a strange old man with a love of Louis Armstrong appears and disappears in California. An old man is mysteriously flattened to death. Around the world, people see these strange balloons and hear the sound of bells. Bob is tortured by memories of his abused childhood that seem to become real.

It gets to the point where while reading each page, the Reader is just waiting for the next strange thing to happen. It's like a surreal journey into a dream which starts normal and gets progressively weirder the deeper into sleep you go. Kaleidoscopic Shades Within Black Eternity is one of those works that isn't so much a book as it is an experience. You have to dive right in and immerse yourself into what is going on.

Eventually, an explanation is given that is compelling and opens up other possibilities about alternate worlds, alien species, and science experiments gone awry. However, the explanation does little to help those that have to live with these disturbing events. 

Bob and Joshua in particular find themselves surrounded by a world that becomes so strange and nightmarish that it's hard to tell what is real and what isn't. 

Neuman deserves high praise for taking his Readers on this surreal journey that confuses and disturbs them almost as much as the characters. It's completely unforgettable and is one of the best books of 2022.

New Book Alert: In Women We Trust by N.H. Sakiha; Important Book That Reveals The Struggles That Women Still Face

 

New Book Alert: In Women We Trust by N.H. Sakiha; Important Book That Reveals The Struggles That Women Still Face

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's no secret that while women have made great strides in some countries, even gaining leadership positions and have been able to openly argue for their rights, (and even in those countries, women still have to fight for their rights as seen in certain laws recently passed in a certain state), in many other countries, they are still lagging behind. N.H. Sakiha's fact based novel, In Women We Trust, reveals just such a situation.

Based on true events, the book is set in Pakistan and focuses on Gul and Badri, the children of housekeeper Zara Bibi. While accompanying his mother to the home of her employer, Sardar Timur Barlas, Gul is seduced by Sardar's daughter, Farrah. When the two are caught in private in a very compromising position, Gul is held before the public, whipped, humiliated, and arrested. 

To add insult to injury, Badri is also punished for her brother's crime even though she wasn't even at the estate when it happened. Instead, she is punished mostly for receiving an education, for being outspoken, and is seen as an example to young women and their parents. This case eventually becomes a cause celebre as many of the people in the highest positions including millionaires, journalists, politicians, and priests weigh in their opinions about this situation and what it means for families and the dynamics between male and female. 

In many of the best novels based on real life issues, the authors build complex issues around memorable characters who are not only well written as individuals, but stand for all real life people who live under these conditions. In Women We Trust does that rather well by giving us powerful leads in Badri and Gul.

Badri's introduction chapter reveals the world that she lives in and her inner strength in surviving it. Most of the book is told in flashbacks, so we see Badri in prison. She has been beaten, raped, assaulted, and treated like an animal, all for the supposed crime of being a woman. She is disgraced by society and feels unloved by her parents as they treat her like a pariah. During her imprisonment, she has a dream or vision of her grandmother, Mimi Jan,the only family member who valued her. MImi Jan reminds her granddaughter about her inner strength and courage. The vision gives her a will to fight.

 In one key moment, Mimi Jan tells Badri a familiar story about a man who falls in love with a fairy woman and steals her feathery wings to hold onto her. This is a frequently told fairy tale with variations told around the world. In fact, one of the most well known versions is told in Arabic lore about the Peri, a species of female fairies with feathered wings. The Peri's wings are stolen and she is kept by the man who stole them and forced to marry her. He hides the wings to keep her captive and so she doesn't remember her real identity. Years later (sometimes after giving birth to children), the Peri is told about the wings and she puts them on, leaving her husband behind. Her husband succumbs to madness because of his association with the fairy woman. (Another variation of this story can also be found in my review of Tales From The Hinterland by Melissa Albert.)

This Peri story is told by Mimi Jan as part of a longer story about a legendary prince and his lineage. While Mimi Jan's version leaves out the dark disturbing ending, the story of a fairy woman is an archetype and metaphor for the real life situation between men and women found within the book. Men in the book want to keep their women in captivity, while many of the women want to find their identities and self actualization. They want to be recognized as the focus of their stories, not as a stumbling block scapegoat or a femme fatale leading men to destruction.

This is the bravery that Badri displays throughout the book particularly during her imprisonment, the courage that says that she is a person and deserves to be treated as an equal. One of Badri's strongest chapters occurs while she is raped by a prison guard. He violates her and tries to break her spirit, but Badri stands her ground. She argues that she is not a slut or a whore and challenges both the guard and Sardar for their behavior towards her, the guard for the rape and Sardar for dismissing her.

While Badri is the main woman in the story, she isn't the only woman who is forced to take on a subservient role in this society. Many of the men in charge swear by a status quo that requires men and women to be treated separately. There are men like Sardar and the Imam Mullah Aziz who delight in the finest homes and reputations that Pakistani society has to offer. They dominate and control their homes with iron fists. When Sardar first learns about the encounter between Farrah and Gul, he vows to kill Farrah until she tells him what he wants to hear. Aziz openly insults and verbally abuses his wife in front of her children, treating her like a servant. The Prime Minister is in the middle of a scandal in which he promised to give a female French reporter, Arlette Baudis, a cell phone so they can exchange in private conversations. Many of these men brag about their sexual exploits while paying lip service to family values. (sound familiar?)

Even some men who don't take an active role in maligning women are still involved in the false perception of and domination towards women. Badri and Gul's father, Shams had little contact with his children before the trial and was unaware that his daughter was going to school. While he pleads for Gul's life, he is less interested in Badri's and finally accepts the punishments that they have been given.

Even a more enlightened character like agent, Aamir Shah who works alongside Arlette to expose the Prime Minister and give the Gul and Badri story worldwide coverage, still has shades of being a man caught up in his own sexist views. He mistakes a successful attractive businesswoman for a prostitute and can't resist belittling Arlette's provocative feminist views.

 Just like in real life situations, the men are often aided by conservative women who prefer to uphold the status quo. Sardar's wife, Sarah Kunam can be just as cruel as her domineering abusive husband. Since the household is supposed to be the woman's sphere, she whips and beats her servants like Zara Bibi to maintain control. She also beats Farrah to force her to say that Gul tried to rape her to take the blame off of her daughter. 

Similar to her husband, Zara Bibi becomes passive towards the treatment towards her children. Even though she pleads for their case, she reluctantly accepts their imprisonment falling into despair. While she isn't intentionally cruel, her passive acceptance towards this unfair treatment is a factor.

 

Another situation in this book that mirrors real life is that when one group is marginalized, others are as well. Many hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan begin by attacking African Americans, but they have also attacked and fought against people of Jewish faith, Communists, LGBT people, and have definite views about the restrictive roles for women. Once one group is maligned and attacked, it becomes easy for hate groups and those in charge to do the same to others. (Think how many individuals and groups that Trump and his supporters have vilified and threatened.)

We see that In Women We Trust as the attacks are spread to others like the impoverished and those with disabilities. Gul's account is not believed because he is the son of a servant and in their eyes is unworthy of justice. Part of the reasons that Shams and Zara Bibi acquiesce to their children's imprisonment is because of their status as servants. They would have nowhere to go and would become beggars.

Gul's abuse is particularly cruel because of his poor status. Many wealthy men with connections get away with being alone with women and young girls, but Gul is made an example of. He is poor so is treated as less than human. His public punishment deprives him of his humanity as he is forced to wear a leash and is beaten before an audience.

Another servant who is treated very lowly is Chaman, a young eunuch. He stands outside of society, often mocked, derided, suspected of being a thief, and often ignored. He is seen and expected to be in the background if he is permitted to exist at all. However, Chaman is able to bring himself forward as a star witness to Gul's trial. Even though Chaman is vile, it's easy to understand why he chooses to act as he does. For the first time, he is listened to and is made important. 

While the situation is dour, there are some who fight against the circumstances. Farrah could be seen as a villain, since her seduction of Gul is what started the whole thing. Even though she seduces the young boy, she is mostly doing it out of curiosity, boredom, and frustration. She wants to do what most men do, take someone just because they can. Her seduction of Gul is her claim to take charge and assume any kind of leadership position. For once in her life, she gets to have power over someone else and a young man at that.

Another female character that challenges the status quo is Arlette. She is a very argumentative capable character. She gives Aamir her reasons over why she fights for equal rights for women and how she has seen such inequality in her own life and experiences, such as how men like the Prime Minister attempt to sexually assault her. She is the type of person who continues to do her job and to be a voice for those who can't speak for themselves. Perhaps, she is the type of woman Badri could become if she retains her fighting spirit.

Because of its close proximity to real life events, In Women We Trust, is very realistic on what the outcome of this trial could be. In a society in which such inequality exists and is filled with people of the highest echelon that refuse to let the status quo get shaken, anything but a guilty verdict is impossible to imagine. However, because of how public this case has become and because many are swayed by the poor treatment that Badri and Gul receive, there is an underground tension that is threatening to explode by people who are angry with being demonized and treated like second class citizens. Sometimes, the only way to change things is to express anger and outrage and force people to listen. 

What is apparent is this case of In Women We Trust ends up not just being about Badri and Gul. It is about all oppressed people, especially women, who have been forced into silence and have been dehumanized. They are finally ready to speak, stand up, and be counted as equal individuals.