essential reading for young people about to embark on adult relationships
The story narrates the involvement of a woman with a man with anit social personality disorder, the unknown and hidden face of domestic abuse in the modern world.
Excerpt
His voice got louder and louder till he was screaming in my ear.
I could not breathe. I saw a doctor’s surgery along the road and asked him to stop the car. I ran in and waited for the doctor.
I realised then that Jeb had stopped taking his medication. If only I had a manual or a book, something, to help me, but there was nothing. I was floundering around in the dark, trying to cope. We go to school, we learn about history, mathematics and literature, but we are never taught about life. We are never taught how one person can gain control over another. We are not taught to recognise the early signs so we can guard ourselves from ever falling into a relationship in which it seems impossible to escape.
Professional Reviews
By Tony Berry UK
Beautifully written, The Shape of a Life is a cautionary tale; one especially for young people taking their first tentative steps into the “real” world. It brilliantly illuminates the hidden nature of personality disorders and throws a welcome spotlight on a mental illness urgently in need of awareness and understanding. And the backdrop whether throbbing big city, mundane suburbia or searing Outback is sparingly and precisely painted with the sharp accuracy of an artist’s eye.
I met Jerome on a busy city street in Baltimore, Maryland, when he was forty-five years old. On that particular day, I was out and about, enjoying a much-needed day off from work.
I wanted to purchase a sukiyaki sub. I parked my car in an area of
