Blog Archives
The Women’s Meeting
![The Women’s Meeting by [J. E. London]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/3132jEa1lmL.jpg)
The Women’s Meeting by J.E. London combines crime thriller, mystery, and psychological fiction to portray the cutthroat world of insatiable men, the shocking and uncomfortable aspects of humanity, and the irrevocable effect of devious crimes on the victim. Dr. Angela Morrison, a psychologist in Washington D.C., facilitates the women’s meetings at the Church with four women who all have been victimized by sexual exploitation, intimidation, neglect, and silence they restrict within themselves. She recognizes aspects of her mother in each of these women and aims to help them find themselves and their truth; however, she finds herself searching for her own truth, with the grim truth coming out in ways incomprehensible to both her and the reader until the very end.
This is an ensemble story, and each character feels both unique but relatable. The characters relive their experiences through flashbacks, recalling some disturbing situations and scenes, but each one has an essence of truth that carries a larger message. While Earnestine, Candace, and Toni may represent hapless and forlorn victims, I personally connected with Anita and her domestic abuse, but they all inspire remorse in the reader.
The message in the book that I feel should be embraced is the practice of will and determination combined with the aid of a therapist to come out of the dark past without solely relying on prayers and divinity to get us through it. Among the devious and disturbing stories of men deceptively dressed in angelic clothing, I appreciate that the author also showcases the trustworthy and humane side of the male gender. There is not only a relief for the women in the story to be around men like Kyle and Dr. Atkins, but I also felt they brought much-needed goodness to the story, representing that evil lies in intent rather than in man.
The part of the book that is uncomfortably vivid and made me squirm is the abundance of explicit descriptions of lustful passion, rapes, and sexual interplay with women and young girls. It is hard to believe that such conduct occurs in this world, so easily overlooked, affecting the victims’ futures and souls, but it does and the truth reflected in these stories is what made me squirm, not the literature that conveyed the message so skillfully.
From beginning to end this novel is filled with drama and intrigue. The revelation of Angela’s grim and unsettling secret at the end of the story caught me by surprise. While the novel is dark and reveals the unfortunate hardships hidden behind the glamorous veil of hypocrisy, it also conveys a message to be grateful for the taken-for-granted comforts of life such as family, friends, and shelter.
The Women’s Meeting is an emotionally charged story that is ultimately uplifting and always entertaining. I would caution readers as there is mature content in the book, but if you can handle it then I believe you are going to enjoy the intriguing characters and profound themes explored within.
Pages: 412 | ASIN: B081DNQCJT
The Women’s Meeting – Book Trailer
When Dr. Angela Morrison agrees to facilitate the women’s meeting at her church, she discovers the women’s shocking traumas are more than she bargained for. As she analyzes the intricate life-style situations of four women, she is lured into the horrors of her own past.
Anita, the pastor’s wife, lives a fantasy created by her parents, her husband, and the congregation. She is a character in a play, and her husband is the director. Unlike the theater, the action is real, the beatings are real, and her fear is real.
Ernestine Johnson is a woman driven by her quest for love. At the age of ten, her world is turned upside down when her father goes to prison, and her mother becomes a drug addict. To survive, she quickly learns the value of her body and before long she knows how to get whatever she wants except love.
Toni Brown is a woman trapped by hate and vengeance, and she is determined to punish the man who stole her life. Trapped in a basement for three years where she is raped, beaten, and tortured until she is totally defeated.
Candace Carter, the youngest of the four women, is trapped in a world of sex, pornography, and prostitution. Abandoned, molested and abused from the age of five, she is vulnerable to manipulation, and there is one man all too eager to exploit her to death.
Eventually, all the women, including Dr. Morrison, confront the horrors of their truths, but not all of them survive their realities.
LITERARY TITAN 