Resumo de The Long Road Home

The Long Road Home by Danielle Steel is a novel about an abused child''s broken world and the courage needed to face it and free herself from the past. It exposes the terror of child abuse, and opens the doors on a subject that affects us all.
¶Gabriella Harrison was a seven-year-old girl that lived with her wealthy aristocratic parents in a lavish townhouse in Manhattan. Her parents were always entertaining guests. After the parties, Gabriella''s mother would go to her bedroom and start screaming at her and then she would beat Gabriella until she passed out. Her mother blamed her for the failure of her marriage and all of her problems. She and her husband did not want Gabriella. She was an intrusion on their lives.
¶Gabriella tries to find a place in the house to hide from her mother but to no avail. She finally gives up on hiding because it only made her mother angrier and the beatings worse. Gabriella finds an escape through writing. Her writing seemed to dull the pain of her lonely world.
¶During one of the lavish parties that her parents hosted, one of their friends ask to see Gabriella because she hasn''t seen her in a while. Gabriella''s mother goes to Gabriella''s bedroom to get her and bring her downstairs. The friend hugs Gabriella and chats with her, but she is able to see the sadness and longing in Gabriella''s eyes. When Gabriella''s mother tells her it is time for her to go to bed, Gabriella clings to her mother''s friend as if she is holding on for dear life.
¶When the party is over and their friends return home, she talks to her husband about Gabriella and the sadness that she saw in her eyes. She suspects that Gabriella is being abused, but her husband disagrees with her. This couple is childless and wants a child very badly. Gabriella longs to live with them because they are so nice and kind to her and always brings her lovely gifts.
¶After the party, Gabriella''s mother beats her for clinging to her friend. She breaks Gabriella''s arm and makes her go back to bed. Gabriella''s father is unable to stand up to her mother. He knows that his wife is abusing their daughter. He has seen the bruises and broken arm and leg before. He fears for Gabriella''s life. He tells Gabriella that he must leave them in order for her to stay alive because her mother blamed Gabriella for her failed marriage. She feels that if she did not have Gabriella, her husband would love her more.
¶Gabriella''s father walks out and her mother simply can not deal with this. She decides to place Gabriella in a convent. This breaks Gabriella''s heart. Although her mother abuses her and beats her, she is the only mother that Gabriella knows and all that she has left. He mother leaves her with the nuns and they suspect that she has been abused.
¶At first it is difficult for Gabriella to adjust to life in the convent, but slowly her battered body and soul begin to mend. Amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns, Gabriella flourishes. She learns about God and the love that He has for her and others. She learns to pray. Her life is so happy and secure there and she grows into a lovely woman in a safe, peaceful world.
¶Then a young priest by the name of Father Joe Connors comes into her life. He never questioned his vocation until Gabriella entered the confessional and shared her soul. Confession leads to friendship and friendship grows dangerously into love. Like Gabriella, Father Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood and is consumed by guilt over a family tragedy, for which he blames himself.
¶With Gabriella, Father Joe takes the first steps toward healing. But their relationship leads to tragedy as Father Joe must chond Gabriella and life in a world where he fears he does not belong, and cannot cope. When the nuns discover their relationship, Gabriella is exiled, disgraced, and nearly destroyed. She struggles to survive on her own in New York. She starts writing again, this time as an adult, and her life as a writer begins.
¶But just when she thinks she is beyond hurt, Gabriella is once again betrayed by someone she trusts. She meets a man who is a con artist. He moves in with Gabriella. He doesn''t work. He uses her and he physically abuses her. Once he beat her so badly when she refused to give him money that she had to be admitted to the hospital. Her attending physician wants to know how she was beaten. After telling him, a friendship develops. He helps Gabriella to have her attacker put behind bars. Later, he talks her into finding her real father and when she does he doesn''t want to have anything to do with her. He is remarried with more children. Then she finds her stepfather whom she had met a few times when her mother was dating him. He had often told her mother to go get Gabriella out of the convent and bring her to live with them, but her mother did not want that. Her mother has passed away and he is remarried and they welcome her into their lives. Gabriella eventually marries the doctor.

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