About the Book

Rose is the mother of two young children, and finds herself living a robotic life with an abusive and controlling husband. While she struggles to maintain a calm front for the sake of her children, inside Rose is dying and trapped in ‘Isolation Junction’.

She runs an online business from home, because Darren won’t let her work outside the house. Through this, she meets other mums and finds courage to attend networking events, while Darren is at work, to promote her business.

It’s at one of these events that Rose meets Tim, a sympathetic, dark-haired stranger who unwittingly becomes an important part of her survival.

After years of emotional abuse, of doubting her future and losing all self-confidence, Rose takes a stand. Finding herself distraught, alone and helpless, Rose wonders how she’ll ever escape with her sanity and her children. With 100 reasons to leave and 1,000 reasons she can’t, will she be able to do it?

Will Tim help her? Will Rose find peace and the happiness she deserves? Can Rose break free from this spiralling life she so desperately wants to change?

 

My Thoughts

Isolation Junction is the story of Rose; a young woman who fell in love but is now trapped in a marriage with an abusive husband. She has two young children with him and feels utterly helpless and doesn’t know how she can ever escape the situation she’s in.

Isolation Junction isn’t quite what I was expecting, but that’s in a good way. I thought it might be focused on the abusive relationship in ways that would be very difficult for me to read, and while there is some focus on violent elements it’s done in a very sensitive way. The novel shows enough for the reader to understand why Rose needs to leave but it mainly focuses on why it’s so hard for a victim of abuse to leave. Gilmour makes sure that the reader understands the situation but without ever making it too hard to stomach.

Isolation Junction felt quite a didactic read to me: the reader is kept at a distance from the characters but it felt like this was a deliberate choice, as if Gilmour has chosen to give a true insight into an abusive relationship rather than trying to make the reader feel what it might be like to be a Rose. I got the feeling that Rose, and possibly the other characters in this book too, were amalgamations of real people rather than Rose been meant to feel completely real to the reader in and of herself. It allows the novel to show the reader what it’s like to be trapped in an abusive relationship in clear language without ever embellishing for the sake of drama. The book moves back and forth in time; some parts are in third person and others are first person from Rose’s perspective. This is clever because at times it allows the reader to be outside looking in but unable to help, and then at other times we’re inside Rose’s head and can feel all her conflicting emotions and pain.

I think it’s very hard for people who haven’t been in Rose’s shoes to understand why people don’t just leave but Gilmour really shows in this book why it’s so hard. People want to leave but they’re too scared of what might happen, they’re scared of losing their children or that they or their children may be harmed. Some people have nowhere else to go having being completely isolated from their family or friends. There are so many reasons and Gilmour highlights this so brilliantly. It’s almost as if a person isn’t choosing to stay so much as they feel there is too much risk if they attempt to leave.

If I’m to be completely honest there is part of me that wanted Rose to make a life for herself without the help of another man, but I can see why the book was written the way it has been. It really shows that there is life after an abusive relationship, that people can go on to form a new relationship and can break free from the cycle of abuse. Gilmour definitely leaves the reader with a sense of hope, and I think that is incredibly important for this book.

Isolation Junction isn’t always an easy book to read but it is an important book and one that I think everyone should read. It’s very honest, it’s heart-wrenching at times and is definitely a book that will stick with you! I recommend it.

I received a copy of the book from the author. All thoughts are my own.

Isolation Junction is out now and available in print and ebook from here.

 

About the Author

Born in Yorkshire in the UK, I am a young, married mum with three children.  I am an entrepreneur, running a family business from my home-base and I have a large readership of other young mums in business for my blog posts.

From an early age I have had a passion for writing and have been gathering ideas and plot lines from my teenage years.  A passionate advocate for women in abusive relationships, I have amalgamated and fictionalised other survivors experiences alongside my own to write my first novel detailing the journey of a young woman from the despair of an emotionally abusive and unhappy marriage to develop the confidence to challenge and change her life and to love again.  I hope that in reading my first publication- Isolation Junction, I will raise awareness of this often hidden and unseen behaviour and empower women in abusive relationships to seek help for themselves and find the confidence to change their lives.

(Author bio taken from: JenniferGilmour.com)

 

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