When author Shelly Edwards Jorgensen is fifteen years old, her family’s home goes up in flames, trapping her mother inside where she perishes. While her mother’s death certificate cites “natural causes” as her cause of death, further investigation reveals foul play, and her father is soon arrested for first degree murder and arson.
BEAUTIFUL ASHES is a compelling memoir—filled with unimaginable conflict, drama, fear, and abuse—which Edwards Jorgensen narrates with utter candidness and sincerity. Pivotal reflections of her childhood paint a disturbing picture of a young girl living with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who nevertheless stays with him. The author skillfully filters in snippets of her life prior to her mother’s death that are relevant to, and a sign of what comes later. Her insightful introspection throughout the book helps the reader understand what she experiences, how she deals with it at the time, and how she deals with it later in life. Edwards Jorgensen bares it all—her pain, frustration, torment, anger, guilt, shame, and happiness—and she does it with grace and humility.
After her father goes to prison and Edwards Jorgensen becomes virtually parentless, she tries to break the bonds that have held her in such a chaotic emotional state all these years and live a “normal” life, but the obstacles thrown at her make this difficult. While presumably most readers have not experienced anything remotely close to what the author has, her proficiency in conveying raw, intimate emotions via the written word make it easier to relate to her story. After years of dealing with serious health issues, including clinical depression and PTSD, Edwards Jorgensen realizes that she may have lost her health, but she has not lost her ability to love and be loved. This transformation would not likely have taken place without her ability to forgive, sobering self-discovery, a heightened relationship with God, and the love of a good man. She shares this personal aspect of her life with deep contemplation and candor.
The author’s skill in writing vivid, descriptive detail is impressive. She transports readers back to specific moments in time by recreating each scene with striking but often painful detail. The guilt she feels over her mother’s death—that somehow it was her fault, that she should have and could have done something to prevent it—is heart-wrenching. Edwards Jorgensen’s perceptive words throughout this beautifully-written book enable readers to fully understand what she has endured throughout her life, the emotional impact it has on her, and how it affects her later on.
Shelly Edwards Jorgensen expertly weaves together details of her troubled childhood that culminates with the horrific death of her mother. The candor and graciousness in which she tells her story in BEAUTIFUL ASHES make this memoir a fascinating and compassionate read.
~Florence Osmund for IndieReader
