Book Review: Silent Battle: Breaking Cycles. Reclaiming Peace. Becoming Whole.

Silent Battle: Breaking Cycles. Reclaiming Peace. Becoming Whole. by Olivia Paisley Troy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

They say that writing one’s memoir can be cathartic, healing. It can lighten emotional burdens by shining a bright light on them. If this is true, I certainly hope that author Olivia Paisley Troy felt a healing light as she released this manuscript for all to read and be changed by. I know I was.

My own childhood was blissful… up until the day my mother was subsumed by a religious cult. That was the beginning of the end of my childhood and sense of family. I’ve often thought of writing about it, but I don’t think, even at my quickly advancing age, I am ready to let go of the resentment long enough to make it a helpful memoir.

But when a survivor is also a gifted writer, and is ready to tell their story, it’s such a treasure. Silent Battle: Breaking Cycles. Reclaiming Peace. Becoming Whole. is one of these treasures. This account of one young girl’s childhood is filled with memories of abuse, abject poverty, and constant fear in a house she would constantly be running from, or hiding deep within.

But there’s progress. There’s hope. Only little glimpses at first, but those pinpoints of light grow into beacons. Notice the full book title. It doesn’t stop at the silent battle. There’s so much more to come.

I may not ever write my own story, but reading Olivia’s reminds me that not everyone had a perfect upbringing. Seeing her win out over hers reminds me that I have conquered my own, as well. By the last page, I knew I had read a story of hope and victory, not a tale of crushing a child’s spirits and future.

This book can be read in one sitting. It’s just under a hundred pages long. Each of those pages has plenty of white space, enough to keep the despair being conveyed from becoming too overwhelming. And the author has excellent writing skills. The story of her life as a child becomes literal poetry on each page.