Sometimes I come across books that are difficult to write reviews for. Not for any negative reason, just the fact that I spend so much time carefully choosing the words I want to use and finding a way to say what I want to say. To try and sum up such an impactful story in just a few paragraphs can be hard. This was one of those books.

“In the Arms of Inup” is the story of Jeremias, who is a survivor of the Guatemalan civil war that escaped to Canada. His story is told in this book by author Eve Mills Allen, who is a mental health therapist and survivor herself.

For starters : I could not imagine going through horrific atrocities, witnessing senseless and crazy violence, and having to overturn my life completely. But then, on top of that, moving to a completely foreign country with different customs and ways of living, and having to work harder than I ever have to live and thrive in this new country. The amount of strength it takes a person to do all this, and then on top of that have the courage to share with the world so others don’t feel so alone, whilst also helping yourself and your family heal? I just couldn’t imagine.

Something I like about this book is that though Eve is writing it, it is Jeremias words, and the bulk of the text is words directly from Jeremias. This story is such a heartbreaking story. To me, I feel as though the combination of Jeremias’ tellings and Eve’s writing is the best way for this book to be written. The fact that Eve is a mental health therapist and a survivor herself makes so much sense for her to have authored this, and for Jeremias to have someone he trusted to write this story makes it all the more worth the read.