This book was perfect for me! I took French in college, and it’s always been a dream of mine to actually travel to Paris one day. So, the title of Deborah Svec-Carstens’s memoir, Toward the Light: A Year in Paris, immediately caught my attention. Yet, things didn’t exactly turn out as she expected, which is what makes this such a poignant, powerful memoir. It’s all part of the WOW! Women on Writing tour. So, read on!
About the Book, Toward the Light: A Year in Paris
What happens when the City of Light turns dark?
At twenty-two, Deborah Svec-Carstens leaves small-town Iowa for Paris, hoping a year abroad will bring adventure, independence, and a fresh start. But just as she begins to feel at home, a morning run ends in sexual assault.
Every instinct tells her to leave. Instead, she chooses to stay.
As the months pass, Deborah leans on an unexpected community of friends, wrestles with questions of faith, and finds purpose in caring for Lily, the young girl entrusted to her care. Slowly, she discovers that healing is not a destination, but a path taken one step at a time.
Set against the cafés, parks, and neighborhoods of Paris, Toward the Light is a coming-of-age memoir of trauma, resilience, and the courage of simply staying.
My Review
This was such a powerful read. While it’s a memoir about Deborah’s experience of sexual assault in Paris and her time in the beautiful city, it’s also a memoir about healing and faith. I thought her journey to find herself again was incredibly touching. Some parts were tough to read, simply because of what happened to her, but it made me realize how vulnerable I am as I go about the world, both now and when I was younger.
Deborah manages to bring Paris to light alongside her traumatic experience. She weaves through the city as if it’s just as much someone to know as the people she comes across along the way. What this book does incredibly well is reach the reader on their terms, even if you haven’t experienced sexual assault. She asks you to look inside along the way.
It’s a must-read memoir I highly recommend!
Purchase it now on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Add it to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author
Deborah Svec-Carstens, JD, MTS, is a writer, book coach, spiritual director, and former lawyer whose work explores healing after trauma, embodiment, and spirituality. Her debut memoir, Toward the Light: A Year in Paris, traces her search for meaning and connection in the months after a traumatic assault in Paris in her early twenties.
Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in bioStories, the Brevity blog, the Des Moines Register, and Ember & Vine Nonfiction Anthology. Her work has received recognition from Writer’s Digest, WOW! Women on Writing, and Memoir Magazine.
Deborah writes The Spiral Staircase on Substack and offers workshops and presentations. She lives in Central Iowa with her husband, where she writes and accompanies others in their journeys of healing and story.
Website: https://deborahsveccarstens.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Deborah.SvecCarstens.Author/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deborah.sveccarstens/
Substack: https://deborahsveccarstens.substack.com/
