Book Review: Cruel Harvest: A Memoir

Cruel Harvest: A Memoir

by:  Fran Elizabeth Grubb

About the Book:

"Get out here, now, or I'm gonna kill you!" he hollered.
Little girls are hardwired to hold their daddies in high esteem, so it comes as a shock the first time a daughter feels the back of her daddy's hand across her face . . . or watches him punch and kick her mother to within an inch of her life.
How could this be? Her older sisters teach her how to survive, even when he comes for her in the night.
A girl learns to become invisible, to look the other way, to say nothing when a curious stranger asks if she's okay. To lie. To expect nothing, not even from relatives.
To cry without tears.
To pray silently.
When she is fourteen, and weary, a girl begins to wish she were dead. Cruel Harvest is the compelling story of how she lived instead.



My Review:
This is an amazing story.  To know that Fran went through years and years of abuse and neglect to be followed by more abuse and neglect and to come out of all of that with such a strong faith and belief in God is so uplifting.  Starting as a baby, this family was torn apart by an abusive alcoholic father and the abuse continued throughout Fran and her siblings lives.  She watched as her brother was sold, her baby sister murdered and her mother beaten on a regular basis.  She endured years of physical and sexual abuse that would have left many an empty shell.  Fran somehow developed and kept a faith in God that got her through all of that and actually produces a happy ending for her.  I like that the story included her present day life and the hope of a reunion with her family and I truly loved her poetry that can be found in the book also.  This is a hard story to read but one that will change you and move you in ways you just never knew.  I am amazed and deeply impressed by Fran Elizabeth Grubb. 


*I received this book compliments of BookSneeze for purposes of this review, however all opinions are my own.