Resilience, Tried and Tested

A story for the mind and the heart. Based on reality, the reader will find it an intriguing and engaging story, probably different from any others read.Four Gordon sisters, Joyce, Eleanor, Alyss and Deidre, prosecuted at court as deserted and destitute children, are assigned to the guardianship of the N.S.W. State Child Welfare Department and fostered to their deceased mother’s sisters. Rather than people, they felt like things, parcels being delivered-Alyss felt this especially-to aunts who were virtually strangers.Each woman had her own reasons for taking on the girls: religiously bigoted Iris Cowper took on the older two as a “Commission from the Lord” and set out to beat “The Devil” out of them; Flora Peters gained a longed-for daughter-substitute, loved her but put her in danger; May Ryles took on Alyss grudgingly, to keep her “within the family”.Read how each girl is treated differently, has her own dreams and values and reacts differently to her circumstances. Later parcelled off the join her older sisters, Alyss suffers the harshness of Aunt Iris’s “discipline”. After seven years of cruelty, though receiving love and tenderness from the sweet Miss Dennis, local sect Elder Mr Burgess and caring others, she decided enough was enough and left, becoming heretic and pariah.Was the move a good one? Only time will tell. Trace the intricate pathways trodden by these four girls as they traverse their pre-adult years.