Black Fury

Black Fury, Help Me, I’m Naked: Book One
by Donna Miller
Published by Your Nickel’s Worth Publishing
Review by Catherine Fuchs
$19.95 ISBN 9781894431798

This riveting book takes the reader to knee level to peer into the keyhole of the marriage of the author’s parents. Outwardly they were a good looking and glamorous couple who both tried to hide the abuse that was always smouldering beneath the veneer of their image as “a happy couple.”

Their young daughter, Saskatchewan author Donna Miller, gives us a first hand account of what it was like to grow up watching her father physically abuse her mother. Her father, Joe, was a very socially intelligent yet insecure man who was extremely jealous and controlling of her of mother. He was also a textbook abuser, who would explain away his behavior with his unenlightened remarks such as, “ I admit I’ve slapped her, but only when she deserved it.” Worse, he would mock her bruises by saying to her, “You look so beautiful in blue.” His actions did always seem to come back to haunt him though, like the time he slapped her so hard she fell into a coma and lost the twins boys that she was carrying.

Donna Miller, as a first hand witness to the physical abuse, ended up becoming an expert intercessor for her mother. Donna, unlike her mother, could sense a worsening in her father’s moods and was able to redirect his attention to draw her father out of his seething rage. Her parent’s horrible marriage also transformed her into a girl who would not cry. The author grew to believe that she would always be punished for having a good time and she developed multiple superstitions around worrying, that included “if she didn’t worry, life would giver her something to worry about.” Though it seemed the author escaped the physical abuse, it’s obvious that her early home life left some very deep emotional scars.

Black Fury is part one of Donna Miller’s story and I am sure you will be anticipating the release of her second book to find out the conclusion to this riveting tale.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM