Two Women. Two Timelines. One Battle.
From two different war-time eras in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Lena, a Scots-Irish-and Cherokee farmgirl from a loving family who marries young, and Becca, a teenaged single mother lost in a dysfunctional suburban family, must escape their abusive homes to save themselves and their children, but face larger obstacles that threaten to ensnare them in vicious cycles of shame and secrecy.
In this first book of The Bent Tree Path series, A Secret Trail of Tears, Becca and Lena live in two different eras-one during the Vietnam War protest era of the 1970s through the recovery movement of the 1980s, the other before and during World War I and through the Great Depression. Each is snared in a vicious cycle of abuse, and must save not only themselves, but their children. And their children's children. And so on. Will it ever end? What will it take?
The 1920s roared nearby, but not In, Lena Burriss. Bucolic farm life in rural Maryland hadn't prepared Lena for a marriage with domestic violence, but she would escape it to save her children. Time was not on her side, as children grow quickly. Neither were finances, cultural norms, the law, nor the Great Depression. Finding strength in her Cherokee heritage, nearly lost after the Indian Removal, and in associations with influential women in government, could make a difference--but will it be in time? Will it be enough?
Jump forward fifty years. Becca, a love- and peace-seeking teen, loses her way during the Vietnam War protest era. After becoming a single mother at fifteen, she must embrace a battle of her own-to create a better life for them both. She hasn't a clue what it will take, nor what forces work within and around her to keep them ensnared.
How do these two lives intersect?
A veil of secrecy covered oppression and abuse from the Great Indian Removal to the Recovery Movement in the late 20th century, creating fertile ground for shame and further victimization. The Bent Tree Path, Book One, is a work of historical fiction that follows the lives of two women bent on escaping from-and changing-this cyclic snare.
What will it take to break the veil of secrecy? Can the cycle be broken?
Over 24 million people participated in the Metoo movement. The fallout of ethnic oppression, domestic and sexual abuse is widespread and calls for our attention even today. But what happens once our eyes are open to the injustice around us? What happens once we admit to being a victim? Is there a way to overcome such trauma-enough to truly thrive? Enough, and in time for, our children to escape the snare? Join the fictional journey of several generations of women who learn what it costs to keep and to break the silence that too often follows oppression and abuse. Begin your journey with the women of The Bent Tree Path, Book One.
