Some Bright Morning, I'll Fly Away

When Hurricane Katrina struck Ocean Springs, Miss., Alice Anderson and her three young children joined the long procession of refugees fleeing the area. Huddled in a motel room, watching the devastation unfold on TV, she was eager to return to her beautiful home, if it still existed, and the life she had carefully crafted. Little did she know that the natural disaster was the tipping point for a series of events that would completely dissolve the life she'd known. Her husband, a doctor with severe OCD, came unhinged due to the chaos and attacked her with a knife, forcing Anderson to escape with the clothes on her back and the children.

Anderson has written a gripping and emotionally charged account of the more than 10 years she battled her husband psychologically, emotionally and legally for the custody of their children, as she tried to push aside the years of abusive behavior she'd endured. Anderson slowly reveals the writing and modeling life she had prior to marriage and the consistent and crushing methods her husband used to demean and denigrate her, forcing her to lose self-esteem and a sense of identity. She also explains how terrifying it was to be a single mom fighting for her children in the Mississippi court system, where her poetry was misconstrued and used against her. Anderson's story is scary, heartwrenching yet ultimately uplifting, filled with the self-determination and love a mother has toward her children and herself. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer

Powered by: Xtenit