The Purpose of Fear

Charmed into spending her summer vacation with her relatives in Indiana, 10-year-old Thel was shocked when she learned that she wouldn't be going back to her home in Florida for the start of the school year. In fact, it would be eleven years before she saw her parents and siblings again. What followed was a decade of abuse at the hands of her cousins-brutal beatings with extension cords, burns inflicted for sadistic pleasure, excessive discipline, and outright humiliation. Thel's life has been one struggle after another after another: job loss, frequent moves from state to state, persistent financial strife, and a myriad of medical troubles. By the time she turned 42, Thel truly believed she had been through it all. But in truth, she was about to discover just how unpredictable life could get. In a cruel twist, another one of life's misfortunes attempts to take Thel out with a final blow, leaving her with a choice. Did she give up and fold? Or did she rise to the challenge and reveal what she was really made of.