Ghellow Road

By T.H. Waters

From the back of the book:

Ghellow Road is a literary diary of a young girl’s journey through the tangled labyrinth that is her life. Theresa’s story begins in a large Midwestern city where she is born to loving parents in 1965. For a brief moment in time, her life is full, as is her heart, and the world is hers to receive without consequence. As time passes and Theresa grows, supernatural forces begin to shape her existence, no matter how carefully her father colors the empty spaces of her world.

Just my opinion:

To read the description on the back of this book doesn’t even begin to help the reader understand the sadness and desperation that is this girl’s life. Born to a mother who is in and out of mental hospitals due to her severe schizophrenia and a father who desperately wants his children to have somewhat of a normal life, Theresa and her brother learn to take care of themselves at a very early age. When their father finally commits suicide, they go to live with their grandparents and a string of aunts and uncles whenever their mother is hospitalized.

Brutally honest and forthcoming, this is an extremely well-written memoir. Rather than following a journal style, the words become a story that takes the reader right into Theresa’s heart. You will cry for her, feel sorry for her, want to do something for her, cheer her on and come to be so very proud of the way she becomes committed to doing something positive with her life.

I loved this book and I’m so thankful to the author for asking me to review Ghellow Road. If you get the chance, give it a try because I know you will also appreciate the opportunity to read this story.

Some favorite passages from the book:

It is disturbing how the emotion from a single event, frozen in time, can conquer you so completely. It gnaws at your innards like a starved coyote, always wanting more than you have to give.