Lori, Runaway Wife is a gripping novel that not only provides exciting reading material but also contains several pointers toward escape for anyone trapped in a bad marriage, especially one poisoned by physical and emotional abuse.
The plot is about a battered wife, Lori Becker, who is a nurse at hospital in Queens. She remains trapped in a marriage controlled by a husband who brutalizes her. Seemingly having no way of escape, Lori lives in a fantasy world of romance mysteries, idolizing their handsome author, Ian Damion.
When she meets the author in person, Lori finds a way to escape from her horrid marriage and to enjoy a life of freedom as a nanny for Ian’s infant son. She finally is able to build a new life of independence because her life skills and professional skills as a nurse allow her to build self-esteem and a desire to succeed.
The lesson author Valentine Dmitriev weaves into the story is that an education helps women, r anyone for that matter, develop marketable skills that creates and maintains self-esteem which provides the means of escape from a bad life to a fulfilling and joyful life.
The author, Valentine Dmitriev, graduated from high school at age 15, graduated from the University of Washington at age 19, and then earned a master’s and a Ph.D in Early Childhood Special Education from the same university. She spent 32 years working with normally developing youngster and with mentally impaired infants and preschool children.. .
It was fun reading Lori, Runaway Wife but I also was impressed with the author’s skill at weaving in values and life lessons into the fast-moving and exciting plot. I read it at home and my wife read it on vacation and we both found it to be moving, meaningful and worthwhile.
By Emory Daniels