JourneyOnline
Black Ink Press,
2011
Reviewed by Karyl Davison.
COMPILED by Val Alberts, retired Associate Lecturer at James Cook University, Townsville, The Long and Winding Road is a collection of Indigenous women’s stories of survival from family violence.
Originally part of an academic project, Ms Alberts, a Gudjal woman, interviewed women about the difficult topic of family violence but she and the women involved wanted to share their stories with others.
The resulting book is a moving and brutally honest account of what these women went through at the hands of those they loved, and how they went about beginning a new life, free from the violence.
The stories depict a range of abuse – physical, emotional, financial and sexual abuse.
What stands out, apart from the courage and resilience of these women, is the terrible toll abuse takes on women both in the short and long term, and the scourge of intergenerational violence.
Although The Long and Winding Road is primarily a self-help book for Indigenous women, these stories could equally speak to any woman experiencing family violence and the people who work in the field.
It is a valuable tool towards empowering abused women, as well as a strongly persuasive argument for more resources that support and empower such women.
