Abuse is a dark, but necessary, topic to discuss

Letter to the Editor:

On Feb. 20, Justin Steck wrote an article in The Western News about H. M. Bowker’s mystery novel “I Can’t Breathe!”

 Thank you for the article about my novel, and thank you, Libby residents, for taking a chance with me by finding my novel on amazon.com and reading it. I appreciated readers’ comments about seeing Libby in 1958, visiting the Blue Bear Café, Al’s Meat Market and other Libby businesses and “dragging the gut” as teens called driving up and down Mineral Avenue after school and evenings.

A couple of emails noted that the novel is dark. Yes, abuse is like that—dark and heartbreaking, but keep reading. Libby has had a long struggle with asbestos, and in the sequel, I will be including the W. R. Grace years, the mine closure and the cleanup process. Readers will again be reminded of how beautiful Libby has always been—and how the asbestos nightmare is over. Of course I know that many people are still faced with asbestos-related illnesses. I look forward to reading more wonderful personal emails—even the sad ones.

The Bowman family represents the many families everywhere—not just in Libby—where abuse has occurred while children suffer in silence. The same is true of the sexual abuse in the high school. Throughout the world there have been abusers taking trusted roles as educators who have moved from school to school when they feared discovery. I am grateful that required reporters now must tell authorities when they suspect abuse. Why aren’t we all required reporters?

I have personally experienced abuse. I know many people who experienced abuse at the hands of family and friends, school personnel, and others whom they trusted. I have lost family members to corporate abuse just as many people in Libby have. My hope is that my novel will remind everyone that abuse will continue as long as people, who are aware of it, let it happen.

— H.M. Bowker