Edgewise:
An Assignment To Remember by Darlene F. Wofford is full
of courage and honesty.
Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember by Darlene F.
Wofford(ISBN: 9781425982997) is full of courage and
honesty.
Darlene F. Wofford is a wonderful writer whose
personality and charisma is vivid in every word and
sentence in her new book, Edgewise: An Assignment To
Remember. This is the most honest, heart-inspiring book
I have read all year. Darlene Wofford has enjoyed
several successful careers including interior design,
marketing, image development, and mortgage finance.
However, life hasn’t always been so blissful. In 1984
her son, Collin, drowned in their backyard pool, and
three weeks later she was abducted by two men, sexually
assaulted at gun-point, and abandoned. As a defense
mechanism her mind shut down and blocked out those
traumatic events, leaving her in a deep state of denial
and emotionally drained.
In Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember, Darlene writes
“I was content enough to go right on sitting there…”
Fortunately for us she did not just ‘sit there’ but put
her emotions and experiences in her book.
Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember opens with Delaney
at the Oakwood Institute where she writes “I loathed the
damn place…” Delaney is Darlene’s alter-ego as a
fictionalized character. As the author explains, “The
book is “based on true events,” however I categorize it
a novel rather than an autobiography because I have
exercised certain creative liberties. I was never
actually institutionalized like Delaney. I “placed”
Delaney in the fictional “Oakwood Institute” to produce
for the reader a vivid setting in which her psychiatric
sessions would take place. My description of the
doctor’s office, however, is authentic in every
detail—dilapidated desk, water-stained ceilings, putrid
green walls and chipped black tile floors—a dingy old
under-financed county facility. The occasional roaches
scurried across the floor and up the walls in bright
daylight, so I could just imagine their boldness in the
darkness of night. One afternoon I nervously studied a
roach as it crawled across the floor, up the wall and
onto the ceiling, only to lose its grasp and fall back
onto the floor. Then it scurried behind the old black
metal filing cabinet. More than twenty years later it
still makes me shudder to think about the place.”
During the author’s actual psychiatric sessions she was
given the challenge of writing about her first memories.
The book is the result of this therapy, as a great
example of how the mind and heart can be released from
pain with just a pen and paper. “It helped me
acknowledge that even though I have gone through some
awfully rough times in life, I’ve also experienced some
amazingly wonderful times, too. I was able to laugh at
Delaney as my alter ego during humorous situations, and
sense her emotions during sad, sorrowful or angry times,
as well as be touched by the tender moments and love
that surrounds her/me. I now look at life as a
progression of events. Negative experiences from our
past do NOT define who we are—unless we dwell on them.
We were created to live and enjoy life, not just endure
it! The events upon which Edgewise: An Assignment to
Remember is based have made me stronger and more
compassionate of others, and I thank God I’m here today
to share my story.”
Edgewise is an example of how one woman wants to live in
the past but realizes she can’t. It is about confronting
reality. It is about emotions. It is about
communication. It is about life. “Emotions are simply
human reactions to life events. There is no shame in
crying over the loss of a loved one, and it is okay to
shed tears when our hearts break because of an ended
relationship, or touched by tender moments. It’s alright
to show emotion when our lives are abruptly interrupted
by tragedy or traumatic events. However, it’s important
to talk about these things, whether we talk with a
professional or someone who loves and supports us by
caring enough to listen. It’s emotionally unhealthy to
pretend these events away as though they never happened.
Writing about our memories is one of the most cathartic
forms of therapy to bring us back around and out of the
darkness.”
Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember will change the way
you think about reality, emotions and communication.
This may be the most important book you will read this
year. Reviewed by John Weaver, Weaver Reviews
"Edgewise"
describes a shattered young woman's state of mind
recovering from post-traumatic-stress-disorder. "An
Assignment to Remember" is the inspiring story of
healing progression and prevailing strength of
unconditional love.
(Manuscript--Atlanta Writers Club Novel-of-the-Year,
1996).
"Although a work of fiction, "Edgewise: An Assignment To
Remember" is the gripping novelization of real life
events personally experienced by the author. January,
1984 she discovered her son drowned in their backyard
pool. Three weeks after this tragic event she was
abducted at gunpoint by two men and sexually assaulted.
The psychological impact of these events left her
traumatized and in a deep depression that her husband
and their two remaining sons could not help her
overcome. She went under the care of a psychiatrist who,
after several months of unsuccessful therapy, gave her
an assignment--to write about her first memories. The
first memory that occurred to her when complying with
the assignment was that of her father and herself as a
little girl. Over the next several months writing about
the people and events in her past and present were to
bring her out of her depression and restore an
appreciation for her life, her family, and herself. In
this novelized account the main character of Delaney is
the author's alter ego. The names of all the other
characters were changed to protect the innocent--and the
not so innocent as well.
A candid and engaging account of both the tragic and the
triumphant, "Edgewise: An Assignment To Remember" is
deftly written and very highly recommended reading. The
first volume of a planned trilogy, "Edgewise" is an
inspired tribute to the strength of the human spirit,
and of working through a process of recovery to
eventually overcome the wounds that life can inflict
upon us without warning."
Jim Cox
Midwest Book Review--7/11/07