Judy King

"AGNES´S BROKEN DREAMS" by JUDY KING - a Synopsis. Genres: Commercial Women's Fiction/Quasi Memoir After a 30-year absence AGNES is returning to the country of her birth and upbringing, Australia, at the request of her aging, narcissistic mother. Her mother wants to see Agnes for her own nefarious reasons but Agnes, too, has a compelling reason for making the long journey from her home on the Isle of Mallorca. Having undergone a long period of psychotherapy, she wants to re-visit and re-experience the places that featured in her childhood and teenage years in the hope that burning questions will be answered, haunting mysteries solved, and buried memories let out into the light. Something has blighted her life since childhood. Something has cast such a long shadow over her existence that her ability to grasp at life fully, to appreciate her own sense of self-worth, to attain any semblance of happiness in her two abusive marriages, has been damaged. Such sustained damage that she can now no longer trust, without reservation, anyone who finds themselves drawn into her magnetic orbit. Those whom she chooses, and who choose her, seem to want only to exploit her. Gradually we learn the causes behind the effects. Agnes's parents - a completely selfish pair - between them took a psychological wrecking ball to her early years, forcing her into perilous situations, suicidal thoughts and, ultimately, on a path to complete nervous breakdown. We travel alongside her as she tries to make sense of their damaging behaviour, and of the motivations of her dysfunctional extended family, not least the Uncle and Aunt with whom she was sent to stay against her will and who, in turn, rejected her out of hand. The reason behind this mysterious rejection lies at the very core of the story. Alone and vulnerable, Agnes is raped in her late teens and becomes pregnant. She decides to allow the baby to be adopted. But this is not going to be a story of undiluted misery and despair. Far from it. This is a vibrant, heartening, and often amusing tale of a buoyant and irrepressible woman whose natural energy and determination continue to drive her forward. We observe her as, despite early learning challenges, she gradually builds sufficient personal credibility and, through deeply dedicated hard work, establishes financial independence in a successful business of her own. And all this despite persistent and crippling inner fears. A chance - and cathartic - meeting in front of an early childhood home provokes the start of the resurrection of long-lost memories and prompts Agnes into writing a revealing account of her challenging childhood and teenage years. Having reached her 60s, she is determined to grapple with - and heal - the ills that have beset her. As she gradually links together the missing pieces of the family puzzle, we willingly walk with her through a post-war Sydney memory landscape towards a fresh and contemporary 21st century backdrop, where her brave Australian odyssey will result in a self-vindication that will cause the reader not only to admire her, but to raise a glass in affirmation of her courage in the face of decades of mental health challenges.