Book Review: A Deep Dark Secret by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Kimberla Lawson’s Roby latest book A Deep Dark Secret ably straddles three genres. It is Christian fiction, African-American fiction, and young adult novel. These three genres are often at odds, and — when joined together — the accomplishment that is often problematical. Roby’s novel exhibits some of the same problematical issues. Still, considering the hurdle, the book manages to do a good job of joining these three disparate genres.

A Deep Dark Secret is the story of twelve-year-old Jillian Maxwell who is normal in every way except that her stepfather, a fine-upstanding church-goer, is sexually abusing her. She doesn’t tell it to her mother because her mother is so happy in her marriage. (I can understand her mother’s utter ignorance of the situation, but, heck, the stepfather switched churches three times! How could Mom still have no idea?) The book is well-written and accessible, and as it shows us Jillian’s journey from secrecy to healing through the revelation of her secret, we feel ourselves to be in the hands of a good writer. But unfortunately, we feel something else. Or at least, I felt something else.

Sexual abuse is a subject tackled in all three genres — YA, Christian Fiction, African-American Fiction. They all have different ways of dealing with it, and Roby’s great skill is that she is aware of the requirements of these genres. The book feels courageous, and, as one reads, one feels the author is aware that she is attempt to steer her course through these different waves of writing.

Many writers or young adult fiction have written about childhood sexual molestation. These writers often ignore the religious aspects of the characters or (more often) they are outraged at religion because their victimizer was religious. At the end of such books, the characters are shown as still somewhat damaged. Some authors — both male and female — have shown how these childhood exploitations led to lives of sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, suicidal tendencies, obesity and other issues.

Christian Fiction tends to end on a hopeful note. That’s the requirement. There are also other requirements in many but not all Christian fiction — such as avoiding discussions of sex or not calling a penis a penis or a vagina a vagina. Christian writers often are very aware of the sensitivity of their readers to certain words. It goes without saying that Christian authors don’t want to pick on religion, so if a bad character in a book is religious, the Christian author tends to go out of show that this is an aberration and not the rule.

Article Author: Carole McDonnell

Carole McDonnell's short stories and essays appear online and in print, in speculative fiction, ethnic, and Christian publications. She lives in New York with her husband, two sons, and their pets. Wind Follower, published by Juno Books in June 2007, …

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