I love reading stories of survival. This is most certainly one of those. I finished this a couple weeks, ago but life keeps being life and taking up all my time.
This woman... You know, I have to believe that God made certain spirits super strong and wise because He knew what they would be up against when they came to this earth. She was born into an interesting situation. I say interesting, but really... there are no words.
Her mother was six when her father found her family. They were struggling and he was wealthy, so he said he would take care of her. He promised she would have the best education and be well-looked after. He did just that. She was in boarding schools and received the finest education. His purpose was a twisted one, to say the least. As soon as she was of marrying age, he married her. He wanted to raise up a child of his own - born on a specific day with blonde hair and a girl. Somehow he orchestrated the part of that plan he could and she was born on the day he wanted and happened to have blonde hair. In a nutshell, he wanted to raise a superhuman who would someday rise up among the human race.
She faced grueling tasks in order to shape her into the person he believed she was and would become. Grueling by definition means extremely tiring and demanding. That's putting it lightly. As a child, she only got maybe six hours of sleep a night, had to endure ridiculous "tests", and was never loved either verbally or physically. But by age 10, she started to see through her father's... I want to say psychotic-ness. Nothing else can describe this man. He was delusional in every sense of the word. She was blessed with a strong mind and was able to finally see her way out of his grasp. Her mother was brainwashed by him and showed her no love or affection. In fact, she believed her mother both feared and was in awe of her father.
The story ends well. She grows up, is saved by a music instructor who sees quite clearly the situation she was in and how she needed an escape. He cleverly provided that escape and she was finally able to leave the prison that was her home. Her survival tactics amaze me. The things she did to stay sane amaze me. She is a remarkable woman whose strength was necessary to be able to withstand her childhood and her parents.
It's definitely a good read. Shocking and flabbergasting; this woman is amazing.
