The Ladybug and the Dove
is a powerful memoir about trauma, resilience, and the healing power of art. Valerie Paterson shares her journey of survival after enduring two rapes in her twenties-one at knifepoint by a juvenile serial rapist-and the decades of silence that followed. Her story takes readers from a peaceful hamlet in France to the courtrooms of Boston, revealing the lifelong impact of sexual violence and the complex pursuit of justice.
A chance meeting with another survivor decades later compels Valerie to confront her buried pain and reclaim her voice. Central to her healing is quilting-a creative lifeline that allows her to express grief, anger, love, and hope when words fail. Each stitch becomes part of a narrative of survival, culminating in her powerful quilt,
Hell and Hope
, which stands as both a personal testimony and a public symbol displayed in legal and advocacy settings.
Through unflinching honesty, Valerie explores themes of race, justice, and forgiveness, challenging societal perceptions of sexual assault-especially when the attacker is a Black male and the victim a white woman. Her story is as much about finding empathy as it is about reclaiming agency and purpose.
For readers of Chanel Miller's
Know My Name
and Alice Sebold's
Lucky
, this memoir is both a reckoning and an offering of hope.
is not just one woman's story-it's a testament to the transformative power of creativity and the enduring strength of the human spirit.