Judy King

A True Story of Hope and Inspiration

The rhythm at the Grantham Apartments rotates around her small space on the sixth floor. She feels sandwiched between check- ins and checkouts. She is thoroughly enjoying her stay. She suspects there isn’t a better vantage point in the whole of Sydney from which to gaze upon the city’s famous iconography. She thrills to overhear the gasps of delight when any new arrival flings open the balcony doors to view the wonders stretched out before them. But the busy writer is conscious of resisting getting too chummy with anyone. She knows now that the least hint of rejection, or sudden change of mood, could detrimentally influence the urgent project upstairs

Aunt Marnie Revisited

Chapter 23 Part 5

Agnes

A childhood betrayed and reclaimed
Ginninderra Press

October 2024

After a 30-year absence Agnes is returning to Australia, the country of her birth, at the request of her aging, narcissistic mother. Reluctant as she is to return, having undergone a long period of psychotherapy she now entertains a hope that burning questions will be answered, haunting mysteries solved, and buried memories encouraged into the light. Something has blighted her life since childhood. Something has cast a long shadow over her existence, affecting her ability to grasp at life fully, to develop sustained relationships and to appreciate her own sense of self-worth.

In a leafy suburb of Sydney, a chance meeting in front of her early childhood home resurrects memories of a traumatic event. This represents the moment young Agnes starts to realise, and repress, feelings of confusion, cruelty and alienation from those who should love her the most. Agnes – A childhood betrayed and reclaimed is the revelatory, true account of one woman’s determination to grapple with - and heal - the ills that have beset her past.

As the missing pieces of the family puzzle gradually fall into place this brave woman’s search for the truth is vindicated. Decades of mental health challenges, from amnesia to acquired dyslexia to self-limiting thoughts are ultimately overcome, and an irrepressible spirit released.

Agnes: A childhood betrayed and reclaimed
Judy King

About the Author

Judy King grew up in Sydney Australia. After a troubled beginning, she emerged in the nineteen sixties to establish a successful Real Estate and property development business in Paddington. Selling up to travel the world, she settled with her husband for a year in London...