NORMAL

by Danielle Pearl

  She whispers soothing words and promises that everything is going to be okay. But I know from experience that some wounds, they're permanent - that even if they heal, they scar so profoundly that you are never, ever okay again.

  Not The End

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  About the Author:

  Danielle Pearl lives in New Jersey with her husband and delicious little boys, Cameron and Liam. She is a life-long book enthusiast who has been writing since she could hold a pencil.

  Acknowledgments

  Normal is the first novel I published, but certainly not the first I wrote. The woman to blame - who bought me those blank-paged journals as a child that never ended up filled with anything other than pure fiction, who enlisted her magical nagging powers that she'd probably refer to as "encouragement", and mixed in a little expert Jewish guilt - is Margo Meissner Bielski. Yep, you guessed it - she's my mother. From naming me after her favorite novelist, to slipping those random you should be a writers, and you were born to writes, into any random, completely unrelated conversation, my mother's unwavering support, although invariably rewarded with an eye-roll at best, is without a doubt, the reason I am here writing acknowledgments for a completed novel today. She also did me the favor of marrying my father, Jay Bielski, whom no one can deny contributed at least the vast majority of my genetics, including that Defiant spirit I've so often been accused of.

  I also must thank Lana Vintfeld, more mother than in-law, unpaid nanny and life saver extraordinaire, without whom there is no question this novel simply wouldn't exist. The same goes for Mike Vintfeld, my go-to babysitter and carpooler, handyman and engineer, who creates time for me by taking on everything himself. They are, without question, the elusive X in the equation:

  X + two pre-school aged boys = Completed Novel (Sorry guys, they're all mine).

  To Drew "Drewdle" Pottheiser, who will forever hold the honor of being the first person to read Normal (or any of my novels, in fact), and whose kind words and support gave me courage to take the steps from wannabe writer to published author.

  To Rebecca Bielski, the sister who hopefully will have actually read the damn book by the time this is published, and to Gabi Zahn, whose upcoming wedding pushed me to finish this book before the highly anticipated festivities took over my life (and who may very well be Gabi Bielski by the time she reads this!)

  Normal was inspired by an article in a blog I happened upon several years ago, the source and author of which, for the life of me, I cannot remember. More than the blog though - which was a compelling story of courage and strength by a teen victim of abuse and sexual violence - were the readers' comments. Comment upon comment of victim-blaming and she should have just dumped hims, as if it were all black and white, quite frankly, horrified me. So some time later, I decided to write the gray, and Rory's story was born. Thank you for reading!

  Continue reading the story of Rory and Sam in the next Normal book: Okay, coming out soon!