... a memoir written by Margaux Fragoso. Another of those books I read while driving, making me sound like a really dangerous person out there on the interstate. It was pretty long, maybe ten discs, so it took me a couple of weeks to get it read, during a time when I was not tearing around the state like my shirt-tail is on fire.
Just randomly chosen off the shelf in the library, but one I knew I would want to read to the last page, in the hope that there was a desirable resolution, and justice to be had at the end. Written by a young woman who spent years in a relationship with a pedophile. In the way that you find yourself slowing down to observe a disaster: train wrecks, terrible auto mishaps, mangled vehicles after the crash - you keep reading, desperately hoping someone will intervene and snatch the main character from this manipulative predator.
She first meets Peter when she is eight years old, and he slowly grooms her, incrementally leading her down the path he has chosen. He has children from a failed marriage, that he is not allowed to see due to molesting his own daughters. A compulsive, un-repentant predator, he leads this young innocent into a relationship he desires, making her think she loves him, wants to marry him and have children with this man.
Pretty disgusting. But as he sees this child, under the guise of friendship, inviting her and her mother to his house, luring the two into feeling comfortable and safe. We learn that her mother suffers from mental illness, is periodically hospitalized, on a variety of prescription meds., and unable to see the path the relationship between a pre-teen and a middle aged man is taking.
I don't recall if it was listed as fiction, but it sounds so believable, my thought is that it is a true story. Especially believable as we are so aware of all that has been in the media in recent months. Men behaving badly and appearing to suffer no consequences for years despite despicable actions. So unpardonable, you think: lock them all up and throw away the key.
(Another piece I found in the drafts folder, unpublished. I read the book last year, before all that nasty stuff started showing up in the news. But I can verify, from personal experience, that men can do some terrible things and have no idea their actions are inappropriate, creating long-lasting damage.)
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