Annie Laura’s Triumph by Milinda Jay (A Review by Tamara Ward)

Family secrets are explored very heavily in this novel. I don’t think a reader alive will not be able to relate in some way to what the characters go through in their individual searches for truth and worth. For that alone, I applaud Miss Jay’s writing. I got the feeling while reading this novel that the author was telling a semi-autobiographical story and while she wouldn’t be unique in doing so, and it can translated into amazing stories for the most part, the risk some authors can take in telling their story can unfortunately result in them also taking the right away from a reader to form their own opinion. We are biased about what we go through in life and we have every right to be, but if we strive to write a story as ‘fictional’ we have to take the reader’s bias under more consideration than our own. I felt while reading it, that while I truly liked and related to the characters and the plot, I was being encouraged to feel and think a certain way about them, and I didn’t like that so much. I believe this book has a really unique story and you do start to bond with the characters, so I don’t see anyone NOT liking the book so much as maybe not necessarily agreeing with how it is written. Review by Tamara Ward