In a compelling debut novel, Bound By The Scars We Share, Vivien Churney aims to highlight a generation of women, in an age of gender inequality, who faced lives of conflict and unfulfillment, as they struggled with experiences of adversity and personal trauma. Powerful reading and as relevant today as the settings chosen.
In 1930s Antwerp, having fled a pre war Poland with her family, Zoshia, a young Jewish girl, battles to survive intense persecution from the Nazis and bravely endangers her own life in order to help save others. Zoshia is based on Vivien's mother's life story of hardship, as a Jewish heroine of WWII, who helped transfer Jewish children from France to Switzerland.
During the war years, Grace, a young teenager, suffers severe personal abuse at the hands of her family in Lyme Regis, England and courageously tries to overcome the repercussions. As adults both Zoshia and Grace face personal struggles as they try to recover from their traumatic experiences, haunted by their pasts that have scarred them.
"The idea of the suppression of women came to me in one of my female writing groups and so I decided to try and connect my mother's suffering to that of an imagined female heroine, who survived torment and abuse of a personal nature," explains Vivien, based in Liverpool. "My mother found it difficult to talk about her experiences and I wanted her story of bravery to be told."
This unique and exquisite tale of two women from different backgrounds, juxtaposes both their lives as they each journey through the decades, overcoming tragedy and anguish from World War II onwards. This gripping narrative chronicles the injurious plight of women in an age of gender inequality, demonstrates the disastrous effects of war, human cruelty and exploitation, and dynamically showcases the power of female friendship.