Jean Darby is a retired teacher and has based this book on her own experience of fostering a young girl who was raised by a satanic witch.
Journey Out of Darkness traces a girl’s struggle to overcome her abusive past. Rita is one of twins. She clings to her sister Maureen throughout her childhood until their lives take different paths. The mother, who calls herself Cassandra communes with demons, making them do her evil bidding in return for her faithful worship.
Jean Darby has written a large number of children’s books and unfortunately it shows. This book seems to be written in a style aimed for a lot younger reader, with the exception of the rather grim sex scenes. Obviously Darby has had experience of this situation herself, as the book comes across as very believable.
Journey Out of Darkness reminds me of afternoons watching Channel 5 movies - the ones labelled ‘American family drama’. The plot, script and acting are all a bit dodgy, but you feel compelled to keep watching. The situation is so terrible and depressing you just have to find out what happens in the end.
I felt this book said a lot more about Darby’s opinions and prejudices than the topic of child abuse. She is so obsessed with preaching ‘God good/Satan bad’ that she avoids the real issues. She fails to tackle the complete failure of the government systems to deal with abuse. She is so busy with the fact that the mother is evil due to the fact that she worships Satan, that she fails to notice that the character she’s created is obviously clinically insane. This seems to be yet another failure of their systems that she has remained undiagnosed.
Considering the subject matter this book was never going to be an easy read. However, I found it very frustrating that no one questioned the way their schools, social services and medical systems worked. If you want an exciting read that’s full of demons and the occult, give this one a miss.
Rating: 1 out of 5
[Angela Richardson]
Like this? Try A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer.
