When the Past Awakens' is Maria Avraam's real and brutally honest account of her life and thoughts, straight from the heart, with emotional intensity. If it wasn't for Maria documenting her internal suffering in her diaries, her story, I believe, would not have been told. Her domineering mother was a constant battle of the mind and spirit. Maria endured mental and physical abuse from an arranged and forced marriage to a stranger. Arriving in Australia from her village in Cyprus presented even more challenges especially when she found herself alone, a deserted wife, with three small children to raise. Maria triumphs through the odds and proves to be a survivor. Following on, is 'The Richmond House' written by Helena Kidd, Maria's first born. Helena brings a lighter tone, with her snippets of family life growing up in her uncle's home. 'The Richmond House' is set in the 1960s and 1970s, overlapping in part to 'When the Past Awakens'.
