Guinea Pigs

The loss of a loved one is a devastating and soul-destroying experience. The loss of a dearly beloved parent for a child not yet old enough to reason why, leaves an abyss of pain and confusion and a world that seems unchanged, yet isn't at all the same. Black emptiness and the need to continue as normal, despite the very foundation of life being ripped out from under you, becomes a daily challenge. Attendance at routine events, household chores, school projects, dealing with friends and their inability to deal with your loss any more than you can don't stop, and despite the emptiness and anguish, life goes on. Somehow the pieces have to be picked up, woven into the anguish and meaning restored. Ella's Story evolved out of a school visit to Samson House in Fremantle. Frederick Samson was a third-generation descendant of one of Western Australia's earliest pioneering families and also one of the longest serving mayors of the city of Fremantle in Western Australia. Students at Orana Primary School in Willetton, Western Australia, on a school visit to Samson House, were assigned to write a story about the visit to Samson House. Rather than embark on an account of the visit, the poignancy of the author's pain at the loss of her beloved father has been skillfully woven into Ella's Story, simultaneously delivering a sense of a child's anguish and inexplicable pain in the search for meaning into life's tragedies, the reaching out for a parent, and the agony of not knowing what the future holds. Ella's Story is a child's book, but it opens up a world of insights into the development of a child's anguish in combating one of the real and inevitable challenges likely to be faced by young and old alike as they traverse along life's journey. Excellent reading for both children and adults.