Synopsis
NAIVE HOPE: The willingness to believe the best in and of people; tending to trust too easily. When you believe in the basic goodness of people, and you trust that God will see your heart and be there for you, you may put up with anything in the Hope and belief that this will eventually come to pass. And that things will end well. But what do you do when that does not happen? The Human Spirit can survive many events, many scars. As a Christian wife, a born-again believer living with a proclaimed ‘Christian’ yet abusive husband, the prescribed answer is to love, forgive, submit and to give more, isn’t? Or is it? How long do you have to put up with it? How much do you have to keep forgiving? What does it take to make the change that you know must take place? Marni finds her own answers. This is a tale of Domestic Terrorism that follows her through the years. Turning to Pentecostal Christianity to avoid the brutality of her childhood does not protect Marni from a mean and cruel marriage. Instead, it gave yet another man permission to brutalise her. Eventually dispossessed and deprived of everything she values, everything that gave life meaning, Marni must learn to somehow make sense of the world she finds herself in. She struggles to understand what it is that makes some people want to drag others down to their low level. The Rot of Resentment from her ex-husband is aimed at her long after the marriage is over. Will this man ever leave her in peace, ever confess to the truth, ever attempt to right the wrongs he has done? The perpetuation of terror and fear is challenged as Marni seeks to understand the reasons behind the lack of justice behind her treatment. The tale explores how past traumatic events can still taint and hinder a heart and mind for decades. And indeed, a family. The traps of domestic and religious control are exposed. Her own guilt at having married such an inadequate and mean soul is finally revealed and expunged. Marni endures the loss of her family, her home, her reputation and finally, her health. Indoctrinating the children she is literally forced to leave behind, her ‘Christian’ husband creates a dark and tortuous inheritance that impacts not only Marni, but also each and every child. The shock of his final betrayals and her enforced eviction activates events that she could not possibly have foreseen. She begins to recognise the disguises of Control that had kept her in bondage. And she finally finds liberation through truth and challenge. She triumphs to reclaim her self-worth, her sense of self, and her spirit despite the depths she was dragged into, and this man’s driving desire to destroy her. Her legacy is to finally reveal the truth, leave a true record of events and to set the record straight. This is her chance to voice the truth about the years kept ‘behind closed doors’. Share the journey of her twenty year commitment to a ‘Christian’ and his imprisonment through control, domination, violence and fear, and her eventual self-discoveries before she can face her abuser without quaking. And of the interesting results that follow.
About the Author
Siri Eschel ventures into the fiction genre with her timely tale on Domestic Abuse. She was challenged to do so after continually hearing the question ‘If he is so violent, then why does she stay?’ As this was a subject close to her own heart, Siri examines one woman’s personal story and the reasons that held her captive in this common domestic jail. Based on fact, the unfolding tale explores one answer to this question and how one woman got caught in a web of hidden misogyny, religious gender bias, closet alcoholism and loyalty conflict. Siri currently lives on the NSW Coast, enjoying the nearby sea and lake surroundings. She has future plans to write further fiction, though probably in the form of a novel.
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