Cruel Harvest: A Memoir
Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
A girl learns to become invisible, to look the other way, to say nothing when a curious stranger asks if she's okay. To lie. To expect nothing, not even from relatives.
To cry without tears.
To pray silently.
When she is fourteen, and weary, a girl begins to wish she were dead.
Reading this description from the publisher's site, one tends to think that it's an exaggeration. Even though we all know that evil exists in the world, and some of that evil exists in the guise of a father or a mother. But really, our mind asks, can it really be that bad?
This memoir covers a short period in a young girl's life - ages five to fourteen; nine years filled with more violence and damage than most of us can imagine. It is not an easy story to read.
It is unthinkable to me that a five-year-old should be forced to drag a sack through a field, picking cotton until her fingers bleed. That a nine-year-old girl, in 1958, had never slept in a bed, never learned to brush her teeth, never trusted that there would be food from one day to the next.
That any child, at any age, should watch the man who is 'Father' beat mother, rape sisters, and (eventually) come after her/him. Should be forced to wolf down food, when there is food, because 'Father' will rip it away if you're too slow. Should want to die at the age of fourteen, because there is no imaginable escape from hell.
This is not an easy story to read. The only salvation, for me and my mind, was that when the ugliness reached a point where I didn't think - as a reader - I could go on, there was a glimpse into Ms. Grubb's current life. A respite from horror that this incredible child never received.
As I mentioned, this is a window looking upon only nine years. It begins and ends with Ms. Grubb's husband, his efforts to reunite the siblings, and a bit of this young girl's life today. And the amazing fact that, through the nightmare that was her childhood, Fran Grubb found faith and God, and came to be saved.
At one point, she tells us that her husband had asked how she came to be saved. Her answer? "That's a real long story."
I do hope that we'll get to hear that story.
About the Author
Fran Grubb has a passion for helping and encouraging people. She travels across the United States with her husband, Wayne, singing her way into the hearts of her listeners and speaking at churches, tent revivals, prisons, women's shelters, children's homes, drug and rehab clinics and any place there is a need. Fran and her husband are founders of Feed The Hungry Chidren, a non profit working with the hurting in Kenya. She loves good coffee, reading, all dogs and belly laughter. When Fran is not writing she is singing and playing the guitar.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
