It's the 1st book I've read by Susan Griscom, but it most definitely will NOT be the last one I read!
Susan Griscom’ s newest book, “The Fawn”, (Book 1 in her new series, The Beaumont Brothers), eloquently scaled the staircase of human emotions; despair, fear, flight/fight, re-birth, and ultimately the blossoming of a young woman, Lena Harrington, who becomes someone she likes, and experiences not only the ability to give true love, but also to accept true love. The latter is not an easy thing to accomplish after being the victim of brutal domestic abuse. “The Fawn” opens up with Lena’s abusive marriage to her husband, Troy, and his most vicious attack that leads to her flight from him occurring faster than she’d planned. So, with nothing but a raincoat, a little savings and a new ID, Lena takes off and randomly stops in Turtle Lake and into Jackson Beaumont’s life. Jackson owns the pub and grille that Lena walks into looking for a cup of coffee and maybe a lead on some work. But she’s battered, exhausted, and scared to death-all recognized by Jackson. He recognizes she’s physically and emotionally hurt, in trouble and needs help, but more importantly, he recognizes the fact she’s extremely scared and one wrong move from him will send her bolting out of the door, and out of his life.
“The Fawn” takes a true look at domestic violence, how easily it can creep into someone’s life and how quickly it can control it. In college I was required to be trained as a court advocate for victims of domestic violence, and I applaud Griscom for how accurately she formulated the path taken by the abuser to isolate and control the spouse. Even more so, I was thrilled that not once did I read the words “why didn’t you leave him” or “how could you let someone do that to you” or “why didn’t you take up for yourself” or “I would never have let someone treat me like that.” The omission of anything remotely resembling these comments shows Griscom’s knowledge of this terrible subject. It’s the first thing as an advocate of domestic violence you’re taught-NEVER make these sorts of comments to a victim. Not only are you further victimizing them by doing so, you’re further pushing them into the false opinion that everything concerning the domestic abuse is their fault. Again, I applaud Griscom’s lack of character in her novel using anything remotely resembling these comments. I also applaud her developing Jackson’s character into one who is keenly aware of how psychologically damaging domestic violence/abuse is on the victim and how extraordinarily careful a man (or woman if the roles are reserved, and yes, men are also victims of domestic abuse) must be to help a woman overcoming an abusive relationship (which is highly similar to Post-Traumatic Syndrome).
Griscom creates a wonderful story of patience, trust-building, friendship, and ultimately love that forms between Lena and Jackson. One that is believable. “ The Fawn” is not only a good romantic story, it is also one that could very possibly build hope in the mind of someone who, like Lena, desperately and deservingly needs a new life surrounded by love and friendship instead of fear and violence.
I was also pleasantly entertained by how the title of the book fell into place from a childhood memory of Jackson’s-I don’t want to give out any spoilers, but it’s just another point of how clever Griscom was in writing this story. I would encourage anyone (from 18 years and older) to read this book.
And, btw, I read this book twice last week, finishing the second reading Saturday, March 22, 2014.
(And I look forward to reading “Rejected”, Book 2 in The Beaumont Brothers Series, about Jackson’s very different brother, Brodie!)