A Woman Named Damaris
Janette Oke

Book Report by Chantel Jensen

A Woman Named Damaris is about a young girl who has a terrible childhood but with the help and inspiration of the people surrounding her learns how she can grow into a great Christian woman.

Damaris and her mother are usually busy caring for her father. Fits of anger caused by heavy drinking affect everyone in their small family. He takes these fits out on his wife and daughter, who are waiting for him to come home so they can feed him, wait for him to pass out, and carry him to his bed. The two women are often worried about him taking out his anger on them physically.

One of the moments I remember the most comes after putting Damaris’ pa to bed, when she and her mother sit down for a cup of coffee, which they are forbidden to have by her father. A cup of coffee meant a lot to Damaris, considering the circumstances.

With what she thinks is the blessing of her mother to escape the imprisonment of her father, she is determined to run away and find a place of her own as far away from her father as she can. She hopes to find work and a safe place to eventually call home. Leaving home with a few treasures of her mother's, she sets off on a long and tiresome journey, worrying and hoping her mother will be all right on her own. With many great things to come, her adventure has only started.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. It shows how the strength and determination of a woman passed down by her mother will definitely help her in the end. Once I started reading this book, it was very hard for me to put it down. I loved it.

[CJ]