The Blind Man's Laughter spins true stories of abused women into one woman's battle and lends words to voiceless victims

Many years ago author Cooper Lee Collins recorded several elderly women discussing their experiences as victims of abuse. Inspired by their tragic stories and wanting to give their lives resolution, she created her new novel, The Blind Man’s Laughter, which follows one woman through the 1940s and ’50s, during her struggle to escape the life into which that abuse led her.

Lily Josephine Stowe carries a burden of shame which she refuses to share with anyone: she is molested then threatened with the words, “Just wait till your mother learns what you’ve done.” To make matters worse, believing she alone is to blame she is led into situations she could have otherwise avoided. Like many others who shared similar experiences, she keeps it all inside.

The Blind Man’s Laughter takes the true stories of several abused women and weaves them into one character, Lily Josephine, to bring to life what so many women experienced. Readers are able to experience yesterday themselves through words on paper, as Lily commits sin after sin, piling one onto another: all of it a result of her abuse, before realizing the liberation honesty can bring her.

Collins hopes her book can bring readers a sense of vindication through the release of their own feelings of guilt. She also hopes her book will pay tribute to the many women who were affected by abuse during the ’40s and ’50s, when such things were taboo to discuss.

Synopsis...

Lily was raised in the forties and fifties when you just didn't tell—yet there are still naive young women who keep secret the shame they believe they've brought on themselves, rather than let someone know they are being abused, and they often allow that abuse to lead them into other situations they can’t escape.

In this heart-warming novel, Lily's life is spilled onto the pages in such a way the reader experiences the world through her eyes. Instead of merely watching her sins, they walk through life with her on feet of clay so that when the story comes full circle, the reader is brought to tears—not by a happily-ever-after ending but by a promise that tomorrow is another day and that the past does not have to define the future.