A Parting Glass: A Novel

Elizabeth O’Sullivan is an eleven-year-old girl with uneven bangs, and a grand imagination. She sees the world as she needs it to be and makes the real unreal, a regular derealization. A proper skill to have when born into a family cursed with hard realities. She hopes to reach the age of twelve, leave Catholic school and her nemesis Sister Mary Paul behind. At home her world revolves around her siblings, a sweet mother, and a brutal father who is shaped and defined by childhood diabetes. This is a story of hope and transformation.

While Elizabeth is a survior and resilent, as many children are who grow up in violence, she is not immune or left untouched by the exposure. Elizabeth sees Sister Mary Paul and her father as two distinct monsters that are tethered together with a long rope that extends for miles. If one appeared Elizabeth knew for sure the other was just around the corner, lurking. A slap, a whack, a switching, delivered by nun or a father are absorbed and become part of her like an extra layer; A sometimes reckless and impulsive amour that she puts on to encounter a world she has no control over. The only place to hide was in a make believe world, where paper Saints wink and dance.

In homes where violence is a daily occurance, or at the very least an expectation, children can develope symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. A disorder that can result in symptoms of detachment from reality. When Elizabeth flahses back to a moment of violence, it is not her but someone very much like her that she is watching; there is a separation between her body, and her essence, a depersonalization. She pulls at her eye lashes, rocks, and remembers.

Tess Banion became a storyteller at the age of two. It took her many more years to test her writing skills for real. She grew up in a nice size Catholic family with three brothers and a sister. Her first novel is based on truths, half-truths, and flat-out lies.

She has raised two children and helped sustain a marriage of 37 years. She’s gone to school (got a couple of Masters), worked in politics, changed careers and found her calling. This is her first novel but not her last. She lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

Contact the author at: apartingglass.com