By Marissa Wells
Contributing Writer
Athena Brkovich, born in 1968 to a blue-collar family, believes in true love. Her childhood is marked by trauma, separation and suffering when she and her sisters are sent away due to their mother’s hospitalization and their father’s inability to care for them.
Athena, brilliant but naive, resists growing up in a world she distrusts. Despite her efforts to escape her painful past, she must confront her changing self in a survival-driven society.
So goes “Leave the Little Light On: Book One Windsor” by Sonia Palleck. The first in series of four books based on the author’s life, which follows Athena’s life from 3 through 18.
“As I was writing and I realized she was me, I had a lot of resistance to sharing a lot of that but then I realized that there’s a greater purpose to getting this message out to people,” the author said.
The greater message testifies to the power of adversity.
“In the face of adversity and in the face of this world which encompasses all of these experiences, we don’t get to select them out, they’re all going to happen, we are still love and we have to sit in knowing that,” Palleck said. “When we can sit in knowing that and learn that and really stick to that, we’re going to be well.”
Inside the book, readers journey with Athena as she comes of age and faces relatable challenges such as family conflict, child abuse, alcoholism a search for belonging, and much more.
“Athena isn’t written like a hero, she’s sort of written like a human,” Palleck said. “I think that’s what draws people in is that when they feel her, they can relate to her.”
“Leave the Little Light On” will appeal to a universal audience as it is a story of love and humanity.
“I hope readers will experience empathy, a space in our hearts where we feel for another as ourselves,” Palleck said. “This helps us to realize we are all in this life together.”
In addition to being an author, Palleck is an orthodontist. She is based in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. For more information about the author and her work, visit soniapalleck.com.
“Leave the Little Light On: Book One Windsor” is available for $18.99 (U.S. paperback), $21 (Canada), and $8.99 (eBook) on Amazon and the Friesen press website.
