Customer Reviews

A Three-Turtle Summer

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Reading 'A Three Turtle Summer' is a learning and rewarding experience. The author conveys very clearly - yet with measured tact - the insidiousness of discrimination and prejudice, namely towards minority women. Janelle Meraz Hooper's dialogues are witty and her characters are convincing. Hers is a moving portrayal of one woman's resolve to conquer herself, against all odds. This is a warm, unassuming and memorable story with no frills attached. I loved it!

Set in Oklahoma in 1949, A Three-Turtle Summer offers a revealing view of the hard life of a Hispanic military wife and her daughter on Fort Sill's military base. Married to a post World War Two soldier that was raised with the mindset that physical and mental abuse are natural means by which to establish control over one's wife, Grace, the primary character slowly develops a plan to escape the constant beatings she endures.
Grace creates a secret life unknown to her husband as she attempts to cope with her circumstances and protect her daughter.
A Three-Turtle Summer is not only a fascinating story of survival and hope, it also paints a magnificent snapshot of life in the Southwest a half century ago. I found it captivating and hard to put down. I would not hesitate to recommend this superb book by author Janelle Meraz Hooper.

Janell Hooper has brought a story of domestic violence into fine focus with this book. It is a tragic tale but one reflecting the persistence of the human spirit which eventually brings a final relief from the agonies of pain, fear, and violence. The demeaning treatment of the heroine of this tale by her husband and her resourcefulness to secretly battle him could only be told by someone who has been very close to similar actual events as either participant or observer. The reader is left wondering, speculating, and cheering "our lady of survival". Highly readable, inspirational, and another voice of encouragement for those women yet too afraid to escape their cruel bondage. Thanks, Janelle.

When I read A Three-Turtle Summer I was moved by the author's warm and sensitive portrayal of a woman trying to free herself from the husband threatening to destroy her. Grace is a survivor determined to protect her daughter Glory, and turns to her feisty mother and sisters for support. Janelle Meraz Hooper gives us more than a story. She gives us a cast of hilarious and memorable characters in a vividly drawn setting. Her sense of humor permeates the book and is especially strong in the dialogue. A Three-Turtle Summer is a keeper.