Bestselling
author by Debbie Macomber wrapped her recent story about family, forgiveness
and love in Last One Home, around
difficult social issues such as domestic abuse and homelessness.
Published
in 2015, the book begins with a quick look back at ten-year-old Cassie playing
with her two sisters. Then we move to a courtroom, where she is helping a
victim of domestic abuse and begin to learn about her life of abuse until fear
for her life and that of her seven-year-old daughter had her flee out the
window of her home and seek assistance at a women’s shelter. There she received
help and job training.
Throughout
the book, we learn the difficult life Cassie lived after running off with her
boyfriend when she was 18 and pregnant. As is often with people who want to
control someone else, he moved her away from her family and friends. Besides
losing her college scholarship and family support, gradually she lost her
confidence and self-respect.
Trying
to get her life back together, one of her sisters contacts Cassie about some of
their parent’s furniture they had stored, if she would come get it. Thrilled to
hear from her sisters and needing the furniture, she still faced the problem of
picking it up with no truck and no extra money to rent one.
Living
in a tiny, cheap apartment, she is thrilled when she accepted as a candidate by
Habitat for Humanity. We learn about the stringent requirements as well as the
need to volunteer hundreds of hours of work to be eligible for a Habitat home.
We
also get glimpses into the minds of her daughter, now 12, her sisters and a
possible romantic interest during her constant struggle for a better life.
For
more information about the author and her books, check out DebbieMacomber.com.
On a more personal note, Maryland author B.
Morrison, tells about a life that was similarly sidetracked in Innocent, Confessions of a Welfare Mother.
She was raised in a prosperous Baltimore neighborhood
and a college graduate, but when her marriage failed, Morrison found herself an
impoverished single mother of two small sons. She found herself “…forced to
accept the handout so disdained by her parents and their world: welfare. This
dramatic memoir tells how one woman finds and grasps the lifeline that
ultimately enables her to become independent.” (The last two sentences are from
the back cover of her book).
For more information, check out www.bmorrison.com.
Whether a true story or fiction, books
such as these help us understand the need for various social programs and the
people who must temporarily depend on them. I would recommend both books and
congratulate the authors for tackling such difficult subjects.
