When Jeff Comes Home - Catherine Atkins

A controversial story to be sure, but one that I found worth the read. It treads in dangerous waters that most authors would not touch. A young boy is kidnapped and suddenly returned years later, completely changed by what he endured under the clutches of his abductor.

It is the heroic tale of a child's attempt to return to normal life after being brutally robbed of his innocence. What he did to survive gains him ridicule and alienation from his fellow students, and faces he used to be able to call friends are only strangers to him.

Sexual assault is a socially neglected topic, not fit for the dinner table as some would say. Sexual assault against a child is monstrous and horrid to imagine. Sexual assault on a boy... is simply entirely taboo, something unspoken and unmentioned, weakly joked about and met with awkward silence, ignorance, and an utter lack of understanding.

Jeff knows this, and because of this knowledge he tries to overcome the monster he is convinced he has been turned into.

Weishan Chin

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