HARVESTING STONES: An American woman’s international journey of survival

by Paula Lucas

Genre: memoir

Published: 2016

*Please note that I earn from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate.

Summary:

This memoir is about a Catholic farm girl journeying through Europe and the Middle East with her international photographer husband. To the outsider, including her family, everything looked perfect – even fairy-tale-like. In reality, though, she was surviving a nightmare and protecting her three children at the same time. This is the inside look of a woman beaten, bruised, and trapped and how she turned her experience into starting two organizations to help expat women who are experiencing domestic abuse. These organizations were Americans Overseas Domestic Violence Crisis Center and Sexual Assault Support & Help For Americans Abroad Program. However, they seem to have combined into one organization called Pathways to Safety International.

My Take: I really liked Harvesting Stones. Though the first few chapters are a little slow reading, I do believe they need to be there to help you understand where Paula came from. After those chapters, hang on because the ride she takes you on is, seriously, one you won’t believe really happened. It is like something from the movies with all the twists, turns, and suspense. The difference is that after the movie, you can sigh and say, “Well, I’m glad that was just a story and not real,” but with this book, it is real – and the sad thing is her story mirrors many other expat women. Women I may know by name, but not deep enough to know the hurts they are experiencing. This book forced me to open my eyes a bit wider, with not just the knowledge that there are women like this living overseas but that there are organizations – people who care for, support, and help these women and children. I love how she describes how she was able to take the “stones” that were thrown at her and “harvest” them into something good. What a challenge to us all – to take whatever hardships we’ve been given and to harvest them into something that can help and encourage others.

* I received this book for review by the publishing company Summertime Publishers. The views are strictly mine alone.

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