COTT: Margaret Daley’s Shattered Silence
Today, we bring you Shattered Silence
by Margaret Daley. Replete with murder and racial tension, at
its core this is a story exploring something everybody can relate with–bullying. And Margaret is here to tell us in her own words exactly why she wrote this.
Shattered Silence by Margaret Daley:
A serial killer is targeting illegal aliens in southern Texas. Texas
Ranger Cody Jackson is paired with a local police officer, Liliana
Rodriguez, to investigate the murders.
While the case brings Cody and Liliana ever closer, the tension between Americans
and Mexican Americans heightens. As Cody and Liliana race to discover
who is behind the murders and bring peace to the area, what they uncover
isn’t what they expected. Will Cody and Liliana’s faith and love be
strong enough to survive the storm of violence?
*** Why I Wrote Shattered Silence
By Margaret Daley
I taught middle and high school for twenty-seven years, and I consoled
many kids over those years that were being bullied. It broke my heart.
The students I taught were children with special needs. Other kids
sometimes made fun of them or had them do things then laugh at them. I
do not tolerate bullying then and now. That’s why I wrote Shattered
Silence.
As an aside, I started a peer-tutoring program
at the high school where I taught. Over the years I had a lot of
popular kids take the class (top academic teens, cheerleaders, football
players) and help out students who needed a peer tutor. One of those
students went on to play pro football and another one became Miss
Oklahoma. What was a wonderful benefit for my students with special
needs was they developed friendships with their peer tutors. Those same
peer tutors were the ones who stepped in and stopped other kids from
making fun of my students.
I wanted to show different situations where a person was bullied (abused) by another. One storyline
is centered around a high school student. The two other subplots
concern the workplace and an abusive marriage. When someone is bullied,
it leaves a lasting mark on that person. I’ve talked with many adults
who can distinctively remember the circumstances around a bullying
incident they were in the middle of.
It isn’t always the outcasts or overweight kid or geek that are bullied. I have a friend
whose daughter is beautiful and smart and was a cheerleader for her
high school. Her last semester of high school was done at home through
online courses because there were girls at the school that bullied her
and made her life miserable. She became physically ill.
For her and the thousands of people who are bullied all over the world I
wrote Shattered Silence. I didn’t just present the situation of being
bullied but offered a few suggestions for improving the situation.
Spread the word: Stop bullies. There are three groups involved in a bullying
situation: the bully (or bullies), the person bullied and the
spectators. The spectators are the ones in the triangle that can step in
and change the situation. Speak up.
***
Margaret Daley, an award-winning author
of eighty-three books, has been married for over forty years and is a
firm believer in romance and love. When she isn’t traveling, she’s
writing love stories, often with a suspense thread and corralling her
three cats that think they rule her household.
To find out more about Margaret visit her website at http://www.margaretdaley.com.
Buy the book! AmazonBarnes and NobleChristianbooks.com
*guest post by Michelle Massaro
