Survivors

Published: July 26th, 2026

My last FB post featured a review of my first novel, ‘A Lie Never Dies’. It reads: “Finished your book, and need to get the next one, to catch up with Kristina’s next adventure. It reminded me of Barbara Taylor Bradford.” How exciting to be compared to such a renowned novelist. Thank you, Jayne. Thank you!!!

But today, I want to focus on the word ‘survivor.’ Barbara Taylor Bradford was well known for her book, ‘A Woman of Substance.’ It was recently on TV – a recommended watch. But was her main character a survivor? And is my main character, Kristina, also a survivor? 

I ask this question because this word has featured so much in recent news: alongside the notorious name of Jeffrey Epstein, and others associated with the grooming and sexual abuse of women and girls. Some females may not agree with what I have to say. But my comments are intended to be positive…and to offer strength to victims. 

So first, the real stories we hear on the news – are these victims of JE actually survivors? In my view, there is no definitive answer. These young women were mainly of an age when they knew what they were doing – not children. Nor were these young women forcibly taken to their place of abuse. They went willingly. Yes, maybe they were unaware of what would happen but was that naivety on their part? 

It’s interesting to compare the JE ‘survivors’ with those who emerged from the horrors of the Holocaust, or others who have survived a deliberate attack on their life. Or people who have survived serious traffic accidents. Soldiers also belong in this ‘survival’ group. I generally associate this word with a serious threat to a person’s quality of life. So in my view, it is an insult to the genuine survivors if we apply this word to those who are victims of abuse. 

What about in fiction? How far is my main character, Kristina, a survivor? Those who have read my first book know that the answer veers more towards ‘no’ than ‘yes’. She is a victim of abuse, but there is no attack on her life. Kristina’s challenges also reflect my own, but although I too have been a victim of sexual and physical abuse, I am not a survivor either. Those who have read my second book, featuring WW1, may feel that my male characters are real survivors, some having returned from that Great War with life changing injuries. 

Similarly, the main character in ‘A Woman of Substance’, while facing many significant challenges, is not a survivor in the real sense of the word. On the contrary, both of these fictional women, alongside many others in novels, faced their difficulties head on – and became noticeably stronger as a result. 

So, perhaps that well-known saying, ‘what does not kill you, makes you stronger,’ contains more good advice for victims than we might imagine. It originates from the 19th century German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, coined as an aphorism in his 1888 book, ‘Twilight of the Idols’: and has since become a popular cultural trope for resilience and survival. The dictionary describes a ‘survivor’ as someone who continues to live, despite experiencing great danger or difficulty. 

So, I would like to think that the victims of JE, and of other abusers, heed Nietzsche’s words, and are able to emerge from their, albeit traumatic, experiences with renewed strength and the determination to overcome what was done to them. 

Life goes on! Years spent on mourning for what is lost, or on what has happened to us in the past, is life wasted. 

Survival is to do with life! 

So let’s live it! 

The first two books in my trilogy: The Legacy of Deceit. Out now on Amazon. In hardback or kindle editions. 

A Lie Never Dies  Book 1

https://amzn.eu/d/6yTM4R0

Love,Lies …and Loss.  Book 2

https://amzn.eu/d/0cVdQjzx

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