Title: Piece by Piece
Author: Deborah White
Publisher: Ewings Publishing LLC
ISBN: 9798890313331
Pages: 106
Genre: Memoir / Christian
Reviewer: Lily Amanda

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Piece by Piece by Deborah White recounts the author’s horrifying and heartbreaking experiences of abuse, neglect and unfathomable betrayal and rejection, through the hands of those who should have provided safety and love at a critical point in her early years. It also captures her slow climb from despair to redemption in one of the most heartfelt and spiritually stirring books you will ever encounter.

Deborah White was born after her parents remarried each other for the second time. She however believes her conception was far from the result of love or desire. Her parents were nothing close to loving and were marked instead by anger, resentment and abuse which had White and her sister Patricia hospitalized at one point after being severely beaten. Her father often used cruel and demeaning methods in disciplining them and sometimes would have them spank each other to drive the message further home. Every day, what needed to be a haven for peace and love, degraded into a battlefield of fear and survival leaving the children believing that pain was normal and love was something they had to earn.

A chance at peace was quickly whisked away into oblivion when years later, her new adoptive father shattered the fragile hope of safety she had begun to build. Deep inside, this, coupled with years of rejection and betrayal, only made her feel like God was forced to love her out of duty. She saw His love through the same lens of fear and unworthiness her abusers had created, and it would take time, faith and a lot of grace for her to finally understand that He loved her unconditionally and would make the same darkness threatening to consume her to soon become the very soil where her much-needed healing would begin to grow.

This sad story, yes, it is sad for the best part of it, is deeply emotional and impossible to turn away from.  It is told with such disarming honesty that it allows you to see every wound, every question and pain, as if you are right there in it with the narrator. It profoundly addresses the lasting wounds of childhood abuse, the silence which follows that trauma and the long, undeniably painful road toward healing and forgiveness. It also investigates the effects of innocence stolen too soon and how that shapes destiny and self-worth.

White’s words, though simple, help the reader understand how it all happened and why it still matters. One can feel that she is not writing to relieve her pain but to redeem it and to show that even the deepest wounds can become testimonies of God’s Grace. This is a book which gives voice to the kind of pain many would opt to keep buried. It is also the type that one who has been a victim of abuse or rejection will read and quietly nod, feeling seen and understood at last.

Piece by Piece by Deborah White is extraordinary in that it doesn’t end with survival but moves further towards spiritual restoration. Its portrayal of grace and God’s love through which it states every human being gets security and fulfillment from, is unmatched. It is a book I would highly recommend for spiritual growth and for anyone seeking to understand, reclaim and find themselves.  This powerful, faith-filled memoir reveals how a loving God rebuilds a wounded heart one piece at a time.