Only her parasol was ever found — the circumstances surrounding her disappearance, and assumed death, were never explained. A century later, Willa Jamieson comes into the possession of a trunk of Genevieve’s possessions. Hidden in a secret compartment she finds Genevieve’s diary…which holds the key to her secret life and her sadistic husband, her strength and her ability to survive everything life threw at her. As she’s drawn further and further into the diary, Willa realises that it might just hold the answers to what really happened to Genevieve Montsorrel…

    In moving detail, Migael Scherer describes the external facts of her attack - she was grabbed from behind with a knife at her neck one morning in a Seattle laundromat, raped, and strangled - as well as the ordeal of reporting and testifying. Incredibly, the more compelling drama is her internal struggle to recover from these events. When Scherer is raped, her sense of time and purpose is shattered. She collapses into a confusion of images and feelings, most of them terrifying, all of them unpredictable. Years of coastal cruising with her husband of twenty years had taught her that safety at sea often depends on an accurate sense of position. Just as sailors keep a log of their voyages, she keeps a journal to help her navigate the uncharted waters. Reading over her shoulder, we journey with her through the aftermath of violence toward the slow emergence of the self. As with some books that have come from the experiences of war and illness, Still Loved by the Sun transcends the brutal facts to reveal underlying emotional truths, giving dignity back to the survivor. An inspiring story of personal triumph and recovery, it is also a story of love and the tests of love that a crisis brings. Rape leaves a wake of trauma, fear, and powerlessness - and for a very long time. By sharing her story and her gifts as a writer, Scherer helps us understand what this feels like for survivors and for those who help and comfort them.