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recommendations for a rape survivor

B

bjbiatch

New Member
Hi everyone.

I need some help choosing a book for a close friend that was raped a while ago and was abused as a child.

She's a mess and I think a good book with a strong heroine that she can identify with or draw inspiration and strength from may help her with her recovery.

The first book that came to mind was The girl with the dragon tattoo, but I think that is too much for her.

What I'm looking for is something with a strong heroine that maybe was not always so strong. She has to have faced some kind of severe hardship or even brutality in her formative years, perhaps also being betrayed by those she had to rely on. Anything except rape.

Our heroine should have found herself at a crossroads and forced to choose between giving up life or drawing on her inner strength to become a powerful and determined (even fierce) woman. Naturally I'd prefer the latter choice.

Basically anything that involves our heroine going through dark times and emerging stronger and better than before will suffice. Any genre is fine as long as it's fiction and if the heroine can, in the end, learn to accept love from from others (without being too romancey) then that'll score bonus points.

Extra double bonus points if the heroine is more edgy and alternative, a prim and proper lady just won't cut it with this one.

I really hope I'm not being too demanding, it's just that this young woman really needs all the help she can get right now.

Thanks in advance for your advice. I appreciate it, truly.
 
Charlaine Harris (of True Blood fame) wrote a series featuring Lily Bard who survived some horrific stuff and overcame it. They are the Shakespeare series. Easy reads, but well done. I think there are 4 of them if I remember correctly.
 
Hi all
Thankyou for the suggestions. There all very close in their way to what I'm after but don't quite hit the mark. I've only read reviews and synopses of these books, but each lacks one crucial element, the part of actually transforming into a strong person after being helpless for so long.

It wasn't an element that was marked as important in the original post, but its much more clear to me now after looking at the suggestions.

There's many stories out there that have males going through this transformation in a kind of boy to man initiation...the count of montecristo comes to mind. Is there something like this with a female lead?

Even a biography of someone who had lost everything and hit rock bottom, maybe got into drugs and then with a little help, turned the pain into to power?
 
Yes yes yes!
I just read the Wikipedia article for that and it's just right.
You're the (man/woman) - not sure of your gender but whatever you are, you're a prime example. Thanks.
 
A Good Woman by Danielle Steel may be an inspiration as the protagonist despite being rich, beautiful and intelligent suffers much at the hands of men and destiny. But does not give up. Finally she manages to hold her head high in a society that ostracized her as an adultress. Even, her rape child is accepted with dignity.
 
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