"A Curse of Torment" by E. A. Owen

Death and misfortune seems to follow and haunt Mary’s family. While there have been times of happiness in her life, they always seem to be immediately followed by multiple tragedies. Somehow she seems to be spared from the accidents that follow and steal all sources of happiness from her over and over again. But why? Will it ever end or is her family doomed to have their moments of happiness continuously destroyed in the worst possible ways?

I don’t often read books that seem to focus so much on the unfortunate things that happen in one’s life, and to have them happen over and over again through several generations made me begin to wonder if there really was a point to everything happening to this poor family? After a while there was a clear pattern and I could easily predict what was coming next or when happiness would turn to disaster.

In the end I did learn reason for the misfortunes that haunted this family. But after such a big buildup, to me the ending almost felt like it came too quickly. I felt as if everything were too neatly wrapped up in a bow to end the story. And as odd as this may sound, it doesn’t change the fact that I did keep reading to the end. Despite the fact that I saw much of the story coming, I enjoyed it enough to decide that I do want to read the sequel.

I don’t think that this story is for everyone though. One of the major plot points involves a young girl being raped and getting pregnant by a man who was supposed to be watching over her when her parents were away. (This event is not depicted in the book, the reader only learns about it after her pregnancy is discovered.) Still, it might be a bit of a trigger point for some and thus I felt a need to mention it.

Something about this story definitely stuck in my brain and keeps rattling around in there, making me think about it again as time passes. I’m not entirely sure that I can really explain what it is that keeps me thinking about it, but I will be continuing on and reading the next book. Maybe then I’ll be able to understand what it is about this story that has struck me so strongly. After all, a good story is one that keeps the reader not only engaged at the time, but thinking about it after they’ve finished reading it, right?