Mary's Shunning - Paperback

by Mary Ranc (Author)

Mary's Shunning is a true story of how a young girl survives beatings, sexual abuse, and her Mennonite Cult family. Born during the Great Depression when sugar and gas was rationed towards the end of World War II, her education was limited to only subjects permitted by the church/cult with no mention of wars or politics.

Living on the farm was hard work, but there were joys coming home to kittens to play with along with her little brother. When he was separated from her, things happened to darken her world. She feels a kinship to Holocaust Survivors because she was beaten and abused, always lonely, suffered from hunger and threats of abandonment and death, never knowing if she would live or die.

About the author

The author, Mary Ranc, was born into a Lancaster County Conference Mennonite family on a farm in Lancaster, PA, USA during the Great Depression and World War II. Certain words were eliminated from the health book that named female or male parts of the body. She was not allowed to go to high school because she was forced to leave school after the 9th grade to work on the farm, unlike her siblings who were all allowed to go on with their education.

However, she went on to get her high school General Education Diploma when her daughter was in high school. Mary then went on to become a Licensed Practical Nurse and take college writing classes, authoring poems and short stories. Working with terminal patients in the hospital she was interested in being a "Death and Dying" nurse. She had several careers after nursing and was always writing notes about what was happening in her life.

This book is the result of notes she wrote throughout her life for the last 60 years. After therapy and recovering from the traumas of her childhood, she is still shunned by her family to this day. Mary Ranc now lives in rural France with her daughter, where she feels safe and loved in the late years of her life.

She wants her story to help others who have gone through this to find health and happiness. It may be found after searching for the truth and will stay with you until you begin to talk and get some help. But please do it.