OBJECT: A Memoir of Childhood Abuse and a Shocking Cover-Up at the Highest Ranks of Government is about the sexual abuse of a young girl by a trusted member of a close-knit community of workers and families at the U.S. Embassy in the 1980s. In this beautifully crafted and intimate memoir, Kristin Louise Duncombe reveals the effect the abuse had on her and how its repercussions profoundly impacted her adult relationships and self-esteem. Told in a split narrative that switches between a child’s perspective of her abuse and an adult’s attempt to come to terms with (and overcome) trauma, the book is both brutally frank and deeply touching. The devastating impact on Duncombe was compounded by a cover-up instigated by the State Department, which saw her abuser simply transferred back to the United States, unpunished and unprosecuted.

Duncombe’s family moved to the Ivory Coast in 1979, as her father had gotten a job at the U.S. Embassy. Though her surroundings initially felt like a culture shock, the young girl soon adapted to her new home—somewhat cocooned by the insularity of the Embassy and its provision of familiar home comforts. One day her world changed forever when what began as a normal afternoon of sport and relaxation took a horrific turn. Duncombe’s deft prose conveys the scene as she spent time at the pool with friends and familiar adults: “Mrs. Mulcahy swam lazy laps, her red flyaway hair pinned in a bun with bobby pins. Still, long tendrils escaped, sticking to her face like a beard. She craned her neck to keep her face from getting wet, and her bright red lipstick and pale skin made her look like an exotic sea animal.”
What happened next comes as a shock to both the reader and the young girl. By skillfully conjuring an initial picture of playfulness and tranquility, Duncombe’s recollection of her abuse is brutally efficient in revealing the callousness of her abuser. His opportunism, his brazenness.

Duncombe’s subsequent attempts to process what is being done to her and her inability to speak out are poignantly recalled: “It was like knowing the lyrics to a song, but only inside my head; when I tried to sing them out loud, they disappeared.” In fact, that notion of being unable to process and explain her situation extended well into her adult life—as is made clear in the parallel narrative set in the late 2000s, which also touches on the rise of the #metoo movement. With OBJECT, Duncombe is finally able to give a voice to her silenced childhood; it is both inspiring and empowering.

OBJECT: A Memoir of Childhood Abuse and a Shocking Cover-Up at the Highest Ranks of Government is a powerful memoir of childhood abuse and its aftermath. Kristin Louise Duncombe’s lyrical prose provides a compelling narrative, charting the shock and trauma of her experience before arriving at a place of liberation and optimism.

~Kent Lane for IndieReader