Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Author: Michael Haibach
Publisher: MJH Publishing
ISBN:978-1981923083
“You want to forget your
past. Then create a new one and move on,” Grace is told in Michael
Haibach’s book, Amazing Gracie.
This
two-hundred-and-seventy-four-page paperback targets those who like a
biography about a woman that held a secret about her past for almost
a hundred years. With minor profanity, topics of poverty, physical
abuse, prostitution, and death may not be appropriate for immature
readers.
In this true story written
by her grandson, Grace Dodson Haibach may have appeared as a
well-bred, well-mannered, and societal lady who was born in 1893, but
she never told a soul about her horrible upbringing until she was in
her nineties. From being an orphan placed in an asylum and five
foster homes, the child learned at a young age to keep to herself,
hide her inner feelings, and never speak or look up. With the help of
a wealthy friend, she buried her heartbreaking past and redesigned
herself with poise, maturity, and sophistication.
While most of us grow up having to deal with our mistakes or
family tragedies, we may not have the fortitude and wherewithal to
survive being put in an orphanage like Grace and some her of siblings
were although their parents were still alive. The protagonist’s
constant drive to change for the better and not become bitter or
pitied is a tribute to her determination. I like that the story of
her life did finally come out and was shared by one of her
grandchildren.
Those who do not like tales of the abuse of
children and poverty faced physically and emotionally in an orphanage
in the early 1900s may avoid this read. Others may not like that the
main character consistently lied and used a false identity to alter
her past, avoiding any connection to it based on thinking others
would think less of her. I wish Grace had kept in contact with her
siblings so that her offspring could know their relatives.
While
I enjoyed the compilation of Grace’s rise from feeling she was a
nobody to a well-respected and loved wife, mother, and grandmother, I
feel sorry that she never came completely clean about her past,
abandoning her siblings and not fully reconciling with them or their
children.
If you are looking for a biography of one woman’s
secretive life of having nothing while overcoming a sad and dismal
childhood to feeling important, this is a good read, especially if
you are related to the woman.
Thanks to Marich Media and the author for this complimentary book that I am under no obligation to review.