GENRE: Memoir
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BLURB:
“If you ever leave me, I will kill the kids then I will kill you.”
“I can’t help but think of other women who may be facing similar situations, even now in a time and generation when these events can easily be exposed as much as they could be hidden. I wish I could reach each one of them, look into their eyes and tell them: you don’t have to live like this. Life can be better; you can choose a different path. It’s not easy, trust me, I know that more than most people do, BUT IT’S WORTH IT.”
This book is an autobiography about a woman raised on a large farm who learned to drive a large tractor at the age of seven, then spent many years plowing, planting and harvesting crops and taking care of the farm animals.
After three years in the Marine Corps, she married her college sweetheart who became a drunk and abused her for seven horrible years before he almost killed her then disappeared. After she recovered she and her three kids fled to Florida to hide so he wouldn’t find them and finish the job.
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Excerpt:
The familiar sound of Brooke’s whimpers pulled me back from my reverie.
I had been lost in thought, absorbed by the gentle curves of the crescent moon above me, imagining myself perched on its silvery edge, far removed from my vulnerable and endangered earthly existence.
Up there, I thought, the silence must be golden—no echoes of the chaos in the world down below, just the serene sights and sounds of the stars whispering the secrets of the universe amongst themselves.
Down here, the silence was fleeting, often shattered by the cries of my youngest, the shouts of her older siblings, the barks of their father, and the relentless dinning of my own tormented thoughts.
Everything I’d done and endured in the past few years had been driven by a need to escape the noise, to find a sanctuary not just for myself but for my three kids: Bailey, Ryan, and Brooke.
That was the least I could do for them; after all, I brought them into this tumultuous world. I made them the kids to a father who found joy at the bottom of a bottle and loved to vent his fury with a raised fist and cruel words—a man whose presence filled our home not with love but with dread and anxiety.
This night, like many nights in recent weeks, the cornfield was our little haven. I lay there with my three kids, all wrapped in duvets and blankets and shaded by the towering stalks that swayed gently above us, glancing at my wristwatch and wishing the night would age faster.
We were within the hour when Phil typically returned home. His truck’s headlights were usually unmistakable. Had they slipped past while I was lost moon-gazing? If he were back home, I would have seen them piercing through the pitch darkness as he drove along the gravel road leading up to the house. And if I didn’t see them, I would have heard the truck.
Some nights, Phil would leave the truck idling in the driveway before stumbling into the house and carelessly toppling anything in his path until he reached our bedroom upstairs, ready to unleash his drunken fury on me.
On some other nights, he would fall asleep at the wheel after parking the truck and leave the headlights blazing until dawn. The latter was usually the best-case scenario for me and the kids, barring the nights when he simply didn’t come home. Each night spent in our household was like a scene out of a suspense thriller; I never knew which version of Phil would come through the door, if at all.
About The Author:
Born and raised on an Indiana farm, Linda Beason was steeped in the rhythms of rural life and nurtured by the enduring love of a close-knit family.
From an early age, she embraced responsibility and excelled throughout her school years. As an alumna of Purdue University— where she earned degrees in both agriculture and accounting—Linda distinguished herself academically and professionally, later working for several corporate companies, most notably the Green Giant Company, and serving honorably in the Marine Corps.
Yet despite a childhood filled with warmth and promise, Linda’s adult life took a harrowing turn when she entered a marriage that would test the very limits of her strength.
For nearly a decade, she endured domestic abuse at the hands of a dangerous man whose fury was fueled by alcohol and an insatiable need for control. That turbulent period sent her racing through a whirlwind of experiences that would forever alter her path.
Even in the darkest moments, however, Linda clung to her faith in God and the quiet confidence of a Midwesterner.
Linda passed away in 2024 while writing this book. Through these pages, she hoped to inspire women to overcome the challenges of toxic relationships and the hardships of motherhood, reminding them that even the deepest wounds can heal and that the promise of a brighter tomorrow is always within reach.
https://amazon.com/dp/1779626460
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/56955280.Linda_Beason
