Review by Carole V Anderson: 

I got this book a couple of weeks ago... very compact and almost beyond belief in its context... but, I know it is not , as this was the village I was raised in, and I know how it can be true... small communities are often a closed unit. and what happens within, is never commented on... I started into high school just before this was unfolding, so as my life had begun to unfold and my attention was focused on events outside the village... and later went on to move to big city, marry and move away.... I never really learned how it was, as No One, even my own parents, even though many knew, ever breathed a word of it..until much later I started putting the pieces together.. .. I can understand how it all happened , as with many small places there was a hypocrisy happening.... so read and keep in mind , it is a case of Truth being stranger than fiction.. Well worth the purchase, which is very reasonable .
​
The Leskard School today after being turned into a home.
Karen Lee has just finished her second memoir "The Village that Betrayed its Children." It is the story of a rural village in Southern Ontario where a crime was committed in the 50s and 60s. The teacher in the two-room village school assaulted nearly all f the female students, but was never brought to justice - in fact, he was protected and allowed to continue teaching. Many of the tiny town's parents allowed their children to continue going to school, though fully aware of the teacher's activities.. In this chilling account, Lee describes the man who was the perpetrator, the villagers, the children, the laws and culture at the time. She also relates the psychological effects of child molestation through her own story.

Read this on Amazon.com Kindle or on Amazon.ca.

​The Full Catastrophe, is available on Amazon or through ordering at your local bookstore.

​
The Village That Betrayed its Children is a semi-finalist in the Journey Awards for Overcoming Adversity Non-Fiction 
News: 
​Memoir at the Alexandra Writer Centre, Calgary:
Check out  www.alexandrawriters.org ​to register for the monthly Memoir Discussion group held every third Tuesday of the month.

You can read my article from WestWord Magazine (Vol. 39 No. 3), The Importance of Memoir: An Exploration of Time, Place and Memory on the "Karen's Blog" page of this website.
In June, 2018, I returned to Leskard, the village I grew up in Clarke Township, Southern Ontario (See map above), to begin some research for a new book "​The Village that Betrayed its Children." I stayed in the old village church, built in 1832, now a B&B called the Hive, where hosts Kevin and Elsii hosted a lunch for villagers to come and share their stories of life in Leskard. (See Karen's Blog for more photos). It will be published in September, 2024 by AOS Publishing, Montreal.
You can view a short Youtube video of the luncheon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBcQ_hGnZMQ&feature=youtu.be
​
​Check out my interview with LA Talk Radio - some commercials but it is worth the wait!

http://www.latalkradio.com/content/writer-041218%20#audio_play
​
Check on my website page: Events and Publications 
Awareness of November as Domestic Abuse Prevention month led to many news articles and interviews.  The following link is to an article and film clip coverage from the "Breakfast for the Guys" fundraiser, held November 8th, 2016, for the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters:
edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/alberta-group-touts-importance-of-male-support-to-end-gender-based-violence

​Book Expo America:
​Had an amazing time at the Book Expo America (BEA), held in Chicago from May 10-13, 2016, and also at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards ceremony at the Newberry Library. 
With Jennifer Dwight and Michelle Cox at the Next Generation Indie Book Awards where The Full Catastrophe won a medal in the category of "Women's Issues"
Picture
With Brooke Warner, head of She Writes Press and Jennifer Dwight, author of The Tolling of Mercedes Bell, also with She Writes Press, in our booth at the Book Expo America