Irish Twins: A Novel of The Troubles begins with the birth of two brothers in a Dublin convent. While duplicates in appearance, the two boys will begin their lives on wholly different tracks. The orphans are given up for adoption and while one is sent to Montana to enjoy the wealth of an Irish emigrant, the other will be sent north to reside in a Belfast ghetto.

Mr. Huerter’s descriptions of both the boys and their new environs is truly a great bit of writing. He writes as though he grew up then and there, in both places simultaneously. Expectantly, the boys have near nothing in common. The vastness and big skies of Montana and wealth share nothing with the ghetto of Belfast under the yoke of British rule, yet the boys find themselves on a collision course with one another.

Following the death of a high-ranking British Official, Martin O’Kane, the brother who remained in The North of Ireland, seeks refuge in the United States. In a coincidence that ties the rest of the epic together, his brother, Mick Quinlan, returns to Ireland for the first time since his birth.

Unaware that he has a twin bother, much less a brother who happens to be an IRA assassin, Mick is jailed for life, without a public trial or legal representation. He is locked up in the infamous Long Kesh prison during the hunger strikes of 1981, when Bobby Sands and nine others gave their lives to bring attention to the British atrocities in the Northern Six counties and beyond.

What follows is an epic tale of redemption and camaraderie as a cast of characters help our readers through this novel of grand scope. Well done, Mr. Huerter.

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Beauty for Ashes is a book that is dedicated primarily for victims of abuse. Through this book, Meyer states that the adversities faced by victims will surely change the way they look at themselves, thinking that they are worthless. But life must go on. Meyer states her own experiences and story, especially focusing on the idea that she herself had gone through the same adversity that all other victims have. And then she moves forward to tell how she managed to pick herself up from the ground, by the help of her undying faith.

All of us eventually become victims in life, not always of abuse but of all forms of problems and adversities. And most of the time, the first move for us to deal with problems is to push God away. We start believing that we are alone, but the truth is we are not. And this is what Meyer would like to share to her readers. We may never be able to reverse time and take back what has been snatched from us unwillingly, but we can learn to rebuild ourselves one-by-one by moving forward.

In addition, Meyer also discusses the forward topic of seeking revenge. It is understandable how easy it is for victims to think about revenge and getting back at the people who have wronged them. Given the pain they’ve been forced to take, having kind and forgiving thoughts is really hard. But Meyer tells victims to not let themselves be absorbed by such thoughts, as God is the only one that has the power to balance things.

If there would be someone that could really talk about these sensitive things with utmost accuracy and empathy, it is a person who knows the true feeling of going through them. It is admirable how Joyce Meyer decided to help her readers by dissecting her very own personal story in this book. In three words, this books is honest, painful and beautiful. Beauty for Ashes is a must-read for everyone who is struggling to fight a battle with tragedies in their past. You could be an abuse victim yourself or you simply hope to be able to understand the things that these people are going through, then getting a copy of Beauty for Ashes is what’s for you.

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