An emotional account of one religious woman’s heartbreaking journey.
“My mind was dominated by fear, rejection, worry, and anxiety.” These honest words reveal the sentiments of sixteen-year-old Tori as she is confronted with a startling truth; she’s pregnant! With barely a moment to process the gravity of the situation, she moves forward with an abortion. From there we see the ramifications of that single decision as it stays with her throughout the author’s life. By her senior year, she has become skilled at the art of living a double life—a conscientious high school student during the week, a party girl on the weekends. From the all-too-common heartache of a child raised in a broken home to marriage and a family of her own, Tori recounts her emotional journey with a warmly human voice. All of this leads her to a place of redemption and peace, and to a mission of her own to reach others plagued by similar feelings and choices.
I Had A Secret For Seventeen Years is not a unique story, but it is one that is rarely told. Living with the doubt, regret, guilt and insecurities Tori shares is an experience many post-abortive women are unprepared for. In this case, Tori finds solace in God and in carrying out a meaningful mission, hoping to spare and comfort others. In all of this, Tori has to put up with all the typical stressors of life—serious illness, relationship difficulties, and more. Timely personal photos make the difficult journey come to life adding by a nice visual component and putting faces to the names. One that especially stuck with me was a smiling Tori holding a two-day old baby she met while on a mission trip with her youth group just weeks after the abortion. Her lovely smile didn’t do enough to conceal the heartache she was hiding at that time. I Had A Secret For Seventeen Years by Tori Shaw is an emotional account of one religious woman’s heartbreaking journey from abortion to redemption.
