PALOUSE, Wash., March 2, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The number of adults with stories of child abuse to tell are higher than most could imagine, and many times victims lapse into the same sadistic habits as their abusers. In a new novel by Sarah Elizabeth, she describes the painful childhood of a young girl, Kelly, and her fight to break the cycle in Expressing the Family Genes (now available through AuthorHouse).
In a family of nine children, Kelly lives in two worlds. The adult world is filled with fear of her father, Ned, whose drunken rages and malicious schemes cause immeasurable physical and emotional harm to her and her siblings. The second world is that of her brothers and sisters, who look to each other for support and love. Kelly, a bold, opinionated child, and her brother, Mark, are best friends, and they cling to each other as they watch over the others.
As Kelly grows older, she begins realizing that her violent father and submissive mother are not normal. She refuses to allow herself to accept the life her parents gave her. She explores her family's background, learning much more about her father's abuse of her sister and about distant family secrets from an uncle. Her mother, a devout Catholic, allowed the abuse to happen and would not leave because of her religious beliefs. Her Irish father was severely abused by his mother and grew up among brothers who were equally as wretched.
Expressing the Family Genes, partially based on the author's own childhood experiences, is a shocking glimpse inside an abusive household. Told through the eyes of a precocious and good-hearted girl born into a situation wrought with pain, it tells how Kelly breaks free of her past and refuses to allow the abuse to make her a victim.
Sarah Elizabeth lives with her family in Washington State, where she practices medicine.
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