Title: My True Colours: A Mother’s Strength
Author: Hannah Francis
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
ISBN: 9781524676575
Pages: 258
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Lisa Brown-Gilbert
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
A mother’s selfless love and sacrifice are the focus of author Hannah Francis’ heart wrenching yet authentically inspiring debut novel My True Colours: A Mother’s Strength. In this affecting narrative, readers meet Lauren, the inspiring heroine of this compelling story, who finds herself a mother immersed in a challenging life where she has to overcome trauma, dangerous abuse and other hurdles to find a happy life.
Narrated from the prospective of Lauren, readers will find her a relatable and sympathetic personality, as she candidly reveals the events of her life. Starting with her childhood she reveals an interesting familial dynamic, within which she is one of five children and a twin to sister Lorna, her loving parents are earnest wage earners, each with a unique personality; while her mother was loving and dedicated to taking care of her family, including her father who is a very laid back and a bit of a jokester.
Initially twin siblings Lauren and Lorna start out close, but as readers find out, personality wise, they were polar opposites. While Lauren was strong willed and protective, Lorna remained cautious, avoiding risk and generally escaped harm or blame. Consequently, this made Lorna the more popular twin. Moreover, Lauren suffered blows to her self-esteem via personal slights, bullies in school and a traumatizing experience to be forever buried as a secret. As the girls move on in life they remain on opposite sides of the personality spectrum with Lorna becoming more social and Lauren more rebellious and reticent about relationships. As a teenager, she becomes involved with Zitty, becomes pregnant and settles into what turns out to be, an unhappy and terribly abusive relationship with an immature, selfish and alcoholic man whose irascible ways and violent nature make him impossible to live with. However, harboring a strong need for independence, she maintains the relationship as best she can having four beautiful children she loves dearly. Thusly and unfortunately, as a result of the tumult in the relationship, eventually Lauren finds herself living in fear for her own safety and the safety of her beloved children. Poor and seemingly trapped in her circumstances, it is Lauren’s selfless love for her children and sheer will, sacrifice and staunch determination to have a better life for them that fuels her journey moving forward in life, overcoming many obstacles, while simultaneously in route to discovering her own happiness.
Conclusively, My True Colours: A Mother’s Strength turned out to be an emotionally gripping, intensely satisfying, portrayal of motherly love. Overall, I found Lauren’s story a captivating and emotional ride of trials, tribulations and triumphs. I found her resilience, and determination admirable as she took control of her life, even when it meant being a struggling single mother prone to ridicule and disrespect even from friends. I found myself not only interested in her story, but emotionally invested by her touching story. I found myself booing, cheering and crying for heroic Lauren and I think readers will as well. This novel is certainly worthy of Hannah Francis’ debut work, which I do recommend.
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