Elena Cao Mannu

Out of Darkness Elena Cao Mannu

In this endearing tale of distress, the author brings to light the driving Life Force that transcends adversity. Her heroine, Amanda, is an ordinary sixty year-old divorcee brutally hit for the second time by a malign tumour shortly after having lost her father. After a two year period of utter void, she is overcome by her family's lengthy stay in her home during Christmas festivities. She withdraws from them in pain as she becomes aware that the people she once loved have become strangers. The shattering thought of a meaningless life plunges her into a multiple reality where she experiences most uncanny events. In her dance between dimensions, her numb emotions spring to life, revealing unimaginable inner depth and awakening dormant talents. While she seeks to understand her true identity, she confronts her past, gradually letting it go as she sheds the masks she once wore. Throughout the novel, the reader witnesses Amanda's Act of Faith as she stumbles clumsily to define the subtle thread that weaves together madness and lucidity. Amanda's enlightening, awesome journey leads her to reach a delicately dynamic balance. Paradoxically, it is this very dance that enables her to stand firmly while she expands her probabilities of renewal beyond known horizon.