The review today is of a nonfiction book written by a new friend I met last month at an author event in Chico, CA, at Lyon Book and Learning Center. Most of the authors at this annual event are secular writers. I glanced over the books lining the tables, and this one caught my eye. I picked it up and read the back page. One blurb was by the co-senior pastor, Bob Hasty, of The Rock of Roseville. He said, "...Joy's life story is a great faith builder..." Since there aren't a lot of Christian writers at that particular annual event, my total boredom switched to excitement. I found the author, and the conversation that ensued convinced me I had to read and review her book.
Joy was born into a family reeling from the Great Depression. They moved from one place to another looking for work. Her father was a plumber, and usually the work he found would be on oil rigs and boom towns, but he would take whatever he could get. Sometimes they lived in a real house with real floors, sometimes in makeshift dwellings--such as an old boxcar.
One time when a family stopped (apparently that family's father had some direction for her father), Joy heard the mother tell her daughter that she (Joy) and her brother were "white trash."
Isn't it odd how words can form your life? Especially when your own family is anything but supportive. Joy was sexually abused by first her uncle and then her father from the time she was four years old. Her mother was promiscuous, and when Joy entered their house one time (still very young), her mother chased her back outside, brandishing a butcher knife.
What chance would a child in those circumstances have in life?
Only in Christ, Who changes everything. Joy wrote this book with the purpose of giving hope to those who grow up thinking little of themselves. And not only this one, but also a shortened version in a mini-book that she hands out free right and left. Several people have given her the funds to produce and distribute the White Trash mini-book.
You may purchase the books directly from Joy (give me your e-mail and I'll put you in contact with her) and from Amazon, and the mini-book only from Barnes and Nobel. Click on the name of the store to take you directly to the site where her books are listed, or leave a note in the comments section below with your email.
Tomorrow I'll be posting an interview with Joy Gartman; I hope you'll join us.
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