Brian Gerrish talks with Vicky Ash, the author of Fruitcake or Bearing Fruit, a small, powerful novel about her personal journey from abuse as a child, through dreams and fragmented memories to a spiritual awakening and healing.
By its very nature, child abuse is a difficult subject to talk about. For many children who experience it, the memories haunt and disrupt their entire adult life. Worse, they feel trapped with hurt that they can rarely speak about. Their abusers blame them, families tell them not to speak out for fear of bringing shame to the family itself, whilst others just cannot bear to hear what the survivors have suffered. Shutters come down, and even good people turn away from the ugly truth of the crimes.
If the plight of the abused is bad, it gets worse. They are often dismissed by the police, ignored by Child Protection services and/or undermined in the press and media by slurs of mental health issues. It seems there is a wall of silence by the State and its agents where serious child abuse occurs, and particularly where there is a ritualistic setting.
Brian Gerrish first interviewed Vicky Ash in 2015. In this second interview, Vicky tells how she has progressed in life since then, and how her Christian spiritual awakening has strengthened and healed her. Writing her book has also been a cathartic part of her journey, and she shows immense bravery in sharing her personal suffering and personal struggle to speaking out via her novel: Fruitcake or Bearing Fruit.
Her book can be found here.
Please watch her short book launch video:
