Nils began his career as Marketing Director for a major book publisher. He has since edited the authors’ manuscripts’ for more than 20 published books, written more than 200 book reviews, served as Publisher of several million-plus circulation national magazines, created the official Yearbooks for teams in Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League, and “retired” as President of a successful telecommunications company.
If ever there was a book that exemplified the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” this is it.
When I first learned from its author, Patricia Striar Rohner—who has previously written another published adult novel, a children’s book (which she illustrated) and 10 short stories in literary journals—that her newest adult novel was to be published last month, in October, I was very happy for her and looked forward to reading it, especially because its subject matter of child sexual abuse is so extraordinarily timely as our entire nation is fixated on the headlines of the Jeffrey Epstein documents and that entire case.
So I must admit that when my copy arrived in the mail I was, to say the least, shocked by the front cover: a pink, almost birthday cake-sweet artwork painted by the author herself depicting a charming little home whose address is the title of the book…an illustration seemingly more appropriate to a book for young readers. It was only after I finished reading this very definitely adult-themed book—during all of which time the discomfort of that cover stayed with me—that I was able to approach the author with my concern and learned the very deliberate reason for that artwork’s selection.
Having by that time recognized Patricia Rohner’s considerable knowledge and understanding of the causes and effects of child sexual abuse on the part of both the abused and abuser as presented through her novel’s story line, I am able to accept the reasoning based on her expertise: that all too often such sordid activity takes place, unreported and unknown¸ when and where least expected—even in a pretty little happy-looking home like 2 Poppins Lane.
This story begins with the rape of a 10-year-old girl, Susan Stern, and her sister by their 16-year-old cousin and progresses to show the impact of that experience on their entire lives and the lives of those around them, including the establishment of a clinic headed by Susan’s father, a doctor, to treat a long list of both victims and abusers.
There are several reasons to recommend this book, not the least of which are the insights she provides about this all too common and harmful activity that reflects the author’s extensive research on the subject, her advice about how to look for signs of such problems, the need to keep an open line of communication between parents and children, and so much more as we seek to protect those we love. These are combined with a highly descriptive, free-flowing writing style that will have you turning the pages at a fast pace.
As for my concern about the front cover artwork, while the author’s reasoning is based on fact and may well be justified I can only hope that this book’s prospective buyers note the one-sentence statement on the back cover: “Warning: this novel contains scenes of sexual abuse.” Failing to do so and bringing it home to a young reader based on the front cover might lead to unintended consequences.
