Review by Holly

by admin_christine | Jan 12, 2019 | Reviews

“My Secret Self” by Christine Cowin is a delightful book and very well written. It flows easily because it’s so exciting and it is written with great knowledge of language and the flow of the words is brilliant. Christine has written her story in a chronological order about her childhood and that in itself is an absolute delight, even with those in her family and the things they used to do. In the background is trauma that Christine had to live through, but the background does not in any way diminish the rest of the manuscript; how she has overcome it is an inspiration to anybody who has to overcome this trauma.

It was trauma perpetrated by a family member in whom Christine had trust, and that trust was broken because of what he did to her; and yet despite this, it is still a book of great enjoyment with well-written, lovely little narratives about her childhood, and also the joys of childhood are expressed very beautifully. Everybody should have a childhood like this because it was such a good time, except for this one traumatic thing; yet Christine has chosen to decide that she will not let that ruin her life; and any other children and grown-ups who have had this trauma of being molested by another person, they could learn a lot from Christine’s example.

Christine has shown great courage and fortitude to be able to overcome this very traumatic time of her life and write a book about it, and not a book which is maudlin in any way; it is a book which states what happened, and almost not from an objective point of view, because it would have been for any child a most traumatic event or events. But she has shown great resilience in deciding (and here is the key word, deciding) to not let those events of childhood ruin her life, and for that it is much to be commended; not only for telling this tale but for these delightful insights into her childhood with her family members.

The writing is of such a high calibre that anyone would be glad to read this book, and anybody who does not have Christine’s book would be very well advised to get it, because it shows insight into certain things that people hush, hush about and Christine has come out boldly and made it known in her book how she lived through these traumas and managed through great fortitude of character to overcome this in her adulthood. Christine is much to be recognized and praised for being able to do this with what has happened, and I hope you all enjoy reading “My Secret Self” by Christine Cowin.

Reader’s Favorite Review

by admin_christine | Jan 12, 2019 | Reviews

Reviewed by Gisela Dixon for Readers’ Favorite

My Secret Self: Trials and Tribulations of an Innocent by Christine U. Cowin is a non-fiction autobiography written in the first person by Christine. In My Secret Self, Christine has described her early years through her teenage life living in Australia. The books follows a chronological order and is divided into chapters and sections that describe Christine’s life as a child growing up around nature and animals, her internal dysfunctional family dynamic with her parents, siblings, grandmother who helped raised her, her sexual abuse at the hands of her father and others, her mother’s reaction or lack thereof to her sexual abuse, the resulting years of isolation and desperate coping, and more. This book is the first part of Christine’s
life and mainly focuses on her early years.

I thought My Secret Self: Trials and Tribulations of an Innocent was an inspiring book and stories such as Christine’s of sexual abuse and neglect are unfortunately all too common and that is why it is important to spread awareness around the issue of incest and childhood sexual abuse. Christine writes in a moving and simple way and the minute details—such as her relationship with animals—lends authenticity to the book. She also describes paranormal experiences and refers to her personal spiritual journey intermittently throughout the book as well. I am hoping to read further installments of her story and her journey into adulthood as well as her later relationship dynamic with her family. This is an interesting and educational read.