Peregrine

Author: Linda O’Dochartaigh

“When I hear the ‘yeah but’ argument from people defending those who allow sexual abuse to continue, whether it’s at Penn State or in the Catholic Church, I realize we have to do more to raise awareness about how sexual abuse can ruin lives,” says Linda O’Dochartaigh, author of Peregine.

Peregrine, a young woman escaping the brutality of an abusive marriage, is a woman living in the fog of her imagination. The defense mechanism that saved her in her childhood descends upon her full force and takes over her ability to survive the reality she finds herself facing – a demented husband. Both as a child and as a woman, Peregrine lives in the world of her imagination, where she can become a character out of the old black and white movies that she adores. But life is not good. The “nice guy” she marries ends up abusing her in every way possible. Peregrine finally escapes from her horrible husband with the help of fate: on her way to work at the Twin Towers, she sees the planes plunge into the buildings. She allows everyone to think she has died along with her co-workers and creates a new self in order to flee from her marriage.

She moves far away to another town and creates her new character, because after all, that is what Peregrine does: she shadows – becomes even – the characters in the old black and white movies that she is in her imagination. She falls in love with Max, a cop, who falls in love back. And when her ex husband finds her and seeks to kill her, she springs into action. Peregrine will not fear her ex-husband or his trying to kill her – she will fight back with a devious and clever plan to protect herself. Max understands men who abuse and hates them, and ignores the law he has sworn to uphold to allow Peregrine to manipulate him into looking the other way. Peregrine outwits the ex-husband as he attempts to murder her, and she gets her revenge, which is ugly. We as readers can stand up and applaud Peregrine’s courage.

Peregrine is devastatingly sad, alluringly fast plotted, and is well written with a terrific plot that drives the reader into the last pages holding their breath.

Peregrine is available for pre-order on Amazon.com

Ratings are based on a 5-star scale

Overall: 3

Review by Broad “A” – Ava

We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own.