Status
Check shelf
Call number
Series
Publication
Bethany House Pub (1991), 224 pages
Description
Fiction. Historical Fiction. A young woman escapes a difficult childhood and finds meaning and purpose through her biblical name.
Local notes
0000-0482-7209
User reviews
LibraryThing member Islandmumma2seven
LOVED IT I read it twice
LibraryThing member LivySue
A summary of A Woman Named Damaris (Livy Massie 14)
In the beginning of this story, a young 15-year-old girl finally finds the courage to run away from her alcoholic, abusive father. She finally manages to do this but only with the help and blessing of her mother, Mrs. Withers. Mrs. Withers gives
Damaris then walks for days with only a little food until she reaches a town. She works as much as she can for food. Eventually, Damaris decides that it’s time to move on, so she walks from one prairie town to another. Finally, she manages to get a ride west on a wagon train if she babysits a couple’s kids.
Damaris travels with a family with the last name Brown until they reach a little town called Dixon. While here, Damaris is taken in by two kind ladies, Mrs. Dover and Mrs. Stacey. Between the two of them, Damaris finds a peaceful and loving environment. She works in the store and for the two old ladies and lives in that little town for quite a while when she meets Gil. Gil is not like other men she has seen. He’s never drunk or abusive and is actually kind. She feels awkward around him and is in denial of her feelings for him. Damaris wonders if she could ever actually love someone.
One day she meets a little girl and her mother. She starts seeing them in the store every so often and learns that the mother has four little children, Abbie, Tootles, William, and a little baby. Her husband is much like Damaris’s father. He is alcoholic and abusive. One day he just disappears and the mother and baby are left in a shack, starving and sick, with the other three children to look after them. Finally, the mother and baby die, and the other children are left as orphans.
Later, at the town hearing, Damaris decides to take the kids and try to mother them. The judge agrees because Gil, Mrs. Dover, and Mrs. Stacey volunteer to help Damaris, Abbie, Tootles, and William. Arrangements are made, and Damaris’s little family moves in to the newly renovated shack.
A few weeks later, Gil proposes to Damaris and she says yes. Damaris also receives word from her mother telling her that things have improved at her old home. Her father has finally dropped his old habits. Damaris, with the help of all her new friends and family, realizes she is finally happy. That, and loved.
In the beginning of this story, a young 15-year-old girl finally finds the courage to run away from her alcoholic, abusive father. She finally manages to do this but only with the help and blessing of her mother, Mrs. Withers. Mrs. Withers gives
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Damaris two precious heirlooms from her grandparents: a lacy golden brooch and a beautiful watch. Damaris’s mother then tells her that her name is from the bible and sends her on her way.Damaris then walks for days with only a little food until she reaches a town. She works as much as she can for food. Eventually, Damaris decides that it’s time to move on, so she walks from one prairie town to another. Finally, she manages to get a ride west on a wagon train if she babysits a couple’s kids.
Damaris travels with a family with the last name Brown until they reach a little town called Dixon. While here, Damaris is taken in by two kind ladies, Mrs. Dover and Mrs. Stacey. Between the two of them, Damaris finds a peaceful and loving environment. She works in the store and for the two old ladies and lives in that little town for quite a while when she meets Gil. Gil is not like other men she has seen. He’s never drunk or abusive and is actually kind. She feels awkward around him and is in denial of her feelings for him. Damaris wonders if she could ever actually love someone.
One day she meets a little girl and her mother. She starts seeing them in the store every so often and learns that the mother has four little children, Abbie, Tootles, William, and a little baby. Her husband is much like Damaris’s father. He is alcoholic and abusive. One day he just disappears and the mother and baby are left in a shack, starving and sick, with the other three children to look after them. Finally, the mother and baby die, and the other children are left as orphans.
Later, at the town hearing, Damaris decides to take the kids and try to mother them. The judge agrees because Gil, Mrs. Dover, and Mrs. Stacey volunteer to help Damaris, Abbie, Tootles, and William. Arrangements are made, and Damaris’s little family moves in to the newly renovated shack.
A few weeks later, Gil proposes to Damaris and she says yes. Damaris also receives word from her mother telling her that things have improved at her old home. Her father has finally dropped his old habits. Damaris, with the help of all her new friends and family, realizes she is finally happy. That, and loved.
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LibraryThing member SABC
Damaris escapes from her abusive father with her 2 precious treasures that belonged to her grandparents. She studies why her mother named her Damaris, from the Bible and soon realizes that she must trust another Father
LibraryThing member judyg54
A quick read about a young girl, Damaris, who flees a home where her Dad is a mean and abusive drunk. She will find herself joining a wagon train West. She settles in a small town and ends up working 3 part time jobs and growing into a lovely young woman, who is still not real trusting of men. As
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the back cover states: "Ultimately, she must come to terms with her past, learn to live in her present circumstances, and trust her future to another Father". Show Less
LibraryThing member NadineC.Keels
At nearly fifteen years old, Damaris has never known a life other than the hard one she lives with her downtrodden mother and a father who's addicted to liquor. When her mother hints at the idea of escape, Damaris dares to think of striking out on her own to head west in A Woman Named Damaris by
Gee. I was a good deal younger the first time I read this ChristFic novel from one of my (sentimentally) favorite series, Women of the West. Now that I've reread it in a much different stage of my life, the effects of alcoholism and abuse in the story hit me in a different way. Just...gee.
Now, apart from Damaris's initial courage to leave home, her quiet and timid personality is pretty lackluster, even considering her background. As is the case in a lot of this author's novels, there's too much halting speech from the characters, with sentences constantly broken up by multiple dashes. (Perhaps that issue is cleaned up in the latest editions of the novels?)
Because a key theme in the story could have used a bit more development, it might send an inadvertent message that it's sinful to think of fighting back against an abuser. Also, some key plot points and people are introduced so late in this story that it dulls their emotional effect. Damaris cries an awful lot toward the end, but I couldn't feel those tears with her.
Still, I never forgot the significance of this book's title, which was a pleasure to see unfold again. Revisiting this rather simple novel was straight-up comfort reading for me.
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author Janette Oke.Gee. I was a good deal younger the first time I read this ChristFic novel from one of my (sentimentally) favorite series, Women of the West. Now that I've reread it in a much different stage of my life, the effects of alcoholism and abuse in the story hit me in a different way. Just...gee.
Now, apart from Damaris's initial courage to leave home, her quiet and timid personality is pretty lackluster, even considering her background. As is the case in a lot of this author's novels, there's too much halting speech from the characters, with sentences constantly broken up by multiple dashes. (Perhaps that issue is cleaned up in the latest editions of the novels?)
Because a key theme in the story could have used a bit more development, it might send an inadvertent message that it's sinful to think of fighting back against an abuser. Also, some key plot points and people are introduced so late in this story that it dulls their emotional effect. Damaris cries an awful lot toward the end, but I couldn't feel those tears with her.
Still, I never forgot the significance of this book's title, which was a pleasure to see unfold again. Revisiting this rather simple novel was straight-up comfort reading for me.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
8 inches
ISBN
1556612265 / 9781556612268