Bright Strands
A Discovery of Meaning and Purpose
by Helen May

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The question of whether justice is served by punishing victims of violence is at the heart of this story. Although set in 500BCE the question remains relevant today. We meet a teenaged girl training to be a wife for some man who would purchase her. She becomes the translator for the ruler of this authoritarian country and merchants seeking to make trade deals. She is raped and punished for losing her virginity and imprisoned to await beheading. She escapes from prison, flees into the foothills where she hides until discovered by a swordsman sent to behead her. She stabs him and flees, once again by crossing over a mountain range to a neighbouring country. Here she finds safe haven and meets others who have fled from brutality. Listening to their personal accounts has her asking this question: How can victims of violence overcome their wounding? Encouraged by the responses to her question, she takes us through her growing sense of identity that deepens her understanding of meaning. The process of her coming-of-age develops into a resilient determination to find both healing and purpose through active collaboration. She sets out to ensure that justice for people from all walks of life would prevail.

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Helen May was born in South Africa and in the 1960s fled the politics of the Apartheid system of racial segregation to live and work in Brazil before driving to Vancouver BC from Rio de Janeiro. An avid storyteller, Helen believes in the power of stories to convey life-lessons, personal transformation and to inspire a shared humanity with compassion. She has shared her love of stories throughout her life on three continents. Helen is the author of four previously published books: The Possibilities of Music and Stories (1975), It Works! (1987), Mother Tongue (2016). The Fugitives (2020). Helen lives in Vancouver BC near her friends, her sons and their children.

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Contributors

Author

Helen May

Illustrator

Marc Luc Poelvoorde