A mother’s sin

- By Lynda Page

A saga, thought provoking and leaves you astound about the harsh truths of life. A saga of a martyr fighting for her salvation to live a life as a normal human being.

Diane Kirby (Dee), daughter of a hard nosed prostitute, has to fight her mother’s legacy to find a place of her own in this world. Not wanting to follow the foot prints of her mother, she fights for a life, a chance to make a life, any chance! Not getting any affection from her mother and being taunted for not choosing to live up to the family tradition, she lives a life of desperation. Finding a comfort and affection in her aunt Madge, she tries to pick her shreds of life, but she faces disgust and dead ends in the light of her mother’s dark life. After her mother dies in an accident, she finds herself face to face with ruthless criminals, who mistreat her and she finds herself fighting not only for the life of the person she loves but also for her self pride. This novel is written in a different time, with the perspectives of a different time, yet not very different from the present.

The novel is a misery lit, written as it should be written, tragic and dark. Dee’s character is compassionate, loyal, and sturdy in her conviction. “You do what you have to do”. Though the novel does not support or condemn prostitution, the author certainly questions the morality of the issue: How can a prodigy be responsible for a mistake she/he has little to do with? One does what one is capable of, in the light of circumstances and though the novel does not sympathize people earning their living by selling their body, it does portray that they are also people who dream of a knight in shining armor and they too have a heart, through Madge. The novel also shows the difficulty of fighting preconceived notions about a person and questions the conscience of the society by choosing to assume the life of a person, owing to the family back ground.

Though I am not much into misery sagas, I just had to give this one a try, particularly after seeing the book cover! Rightly, the novel left me toiling on the bed and staring at the ceiling and pondering about the monstrosity or cruelty of words and the damage they can do to a person’s morale. How many times do we find ourselves bending into something we do not approve of in another person, yet simply satisfy ourselves with a simple reason – circumstances? How many times do we condemn another person for the actions he/she does, without having a remote idea of the circumstances that would have driven a person to such extremes? What right does anyone have for a profanity, when one can’t choose the womb they are in?

A fiction misery, simple and lucid style of writing and definitely touching.