Week 3
The story starts at the age of 13, Laura has been the victim of repeated physical and emotional abuse by a violent and aggressive mother from a young age. She has never known any different. Her father is there but does not get involved. Laura is taken into care just before her 14th birthday, after a violent incident was witnessed by another parent, then she finds out that her father is also involved in having her put into care, so that he can leave her mother, who is mentally unstable. Laura is distressed, unhappy and lost throughout this period.
After being taken to a children’s home she, at first, finds it is in fact better than living at home, but is later approached by one of the male staff. When she eventually reports this she is bullied into retracting her accusation, and ends up being transferred to a foster home.
There she is happy, and makes friends. She loves school, and stays at school to get o levels. She is not allowed to follow the career she wanted due to restrictions by the council, but does get a job she enjoys, and goes to evening classes. Life expands, but in back of her mind all the time is the knowledge that at 17 she will no longer be in care. Her mother will expect her to go home. She said so the last time she saw her. She said she was decorating a room for her. This terrifies Laura, who knows she is still not brave enough to stand up to her mother.
After her mother dies suddenly, her life changes again. Her father shows his uncaring nature yet again. She grows up shy, anxious and lacking in confidence. She sees her father occasionally, but they are not close. He gives her away at her wedding.
Laura meets a man, and marries him after a 6 month courtship. The marriage is good at first, but deteriorates slowly, then she divorces and meets the man she really needed all along. Her childhood problems affect her throughout her life.
Eventually, as she reaches middle age, Laura begins to understand her mother’s mental health problems, and possible causes. However she never really forgives her father.
I really like that ending. Or is it the ending? If you can organize the whole book around that revelation - that her father is the real villain of the piece, despite his inactivity - the story could be very satisfying psychologically. You've already shown yourself to be good at handling detail, such as the father and the whisky - which he withholds and turns out to be his literal downfall - so I'm confident that you can expand successfully on this synopsis. Well done. Comma splice in first sentence!
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