At the age of seventeen, Mary Harper has already led a full and hectic life; surviving poverty, hardship, and an alcoholic father, to become a beautiful, charismatic and charming young woman. Mary has a job that she loves; her first boyfriend; wonderful caring friends and money to spend – at last everything is seemingly perfect. That is, until one fateful night when Mary’s world comes crashing down around her.
Having been brutally raped, Mary slowly becomes stripped of everything that made her life great – her happiness, her freedom, her family, her friends and finally, her sanity. After her rapist poisons her father’s mind with vicious lies; a now-pregnant Mary gets a diagnosis that will change her life forever and once she’s locked up in the Lunatic Asylum, it seems like Mary has lost all hope of ever living a normal, happy life. What will happen to her child? How will she cope with the violence, abuse and brutal so-called treatments in the Lunatic Asylum? Will Mary ever be free from the ‘Big House’? Will she ever find the love and happiness that she deserves and so desperately craves?
Set in the rural region of Kilbarra in the 1930’s: The Journey will take you back to a time where life was harder, tougher, and much more challenging. Closely following Mary’s sad story; the lives of her mother, sister, two brothers and the illegal antics of her alcoholic father: this book will draw you into the lives of these characters and the intriguing ways of this small rural community.
This story is of a time when life was tough and it was a struggle to get through each day and there were many of those days when it was even a struggle to climb out of bed and to fight off the hunger pains. Even though hardship was a daily experience, people made the best of what they had and enjoyed every moment of happiness that came their way. It was a time when you took total responsibility for your life and you just got on with things, making the best of it. No whinging or moaning, just hard work and gratitude for what you had; knowing that some other unfortunate soul was a lot worse of than yourself. That’s right, complaining took you nowhere, you just had to constantly keep kicking yourself up the arse and thanking your lucky stars for being so fortunate. That was just the way things were!
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