Just Before Daybreak

by Audrey Couloumbis

Tranquil rural America, where the secrets of sex are learned in a shocking, horrifying way. Growing up in a house of violence and desperation, Allie Drew must struggle with school, parents and sex. "Daddy" Jim is ravaged by alcohol which makes living there painful and disturbing. Beatings and terror become commonplace. When "Daddy" starts making "passes", a shattering, shocking way of existence takes hold. In a climax you won't soon forget, Allie's whole world falls apart.

Genres: Horror

292 pages, Hardcover

Published June 1, 1987

About the author

Audrey is a recently transplanted (yet again) New Yorker (by choice), now in Bunker Hill, West Virginia (also by choice), where Civil War ghosts scare the dogs at night, where a CSX train track runs behind the house and the romantic sound of a faraway train can be heard three or four times a day, where she is starting a new garden of rambling roses and assorted deer-resistant flowering shrubs and renovating an old house.

Leisure time, what little there is of it, is spent watching how-to acrylic painting videos on youtube and occasionally getting out the paints to play.

New books are on the way: If Wishes Were Princes, Life and Death at the Warwick Arms, and Anthony Was Here. Stay tuned.

Reviews

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story about a young girl who falls in love in the midst of her struggle with an abusive home life - ends in absolute horror and tragedy, but redemption and hope, too.

[Bookwyrm13 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story line reminds me of VC Andrews, but flows well and has a suspencefull feel.