During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Brazil’s dictatorship arrested, tortured, and interrogated many people it suspected of subversion; hundreds of those arrested were killed in prison. In May 1970, Marcos P. S. Arruda, a young political activist, was seized in São Paulo, imprisoned, and tortured. A Mother’s Cry is the harrowing story of Marcos’s incarceration and his family’s efforts to locate him and obtain his release. Marcos’s mother, Lina Penna Sattamini, was living in the United States and working for the U.S. State Department when her son was captured. After learning of his arrest, she and her family mobilized every resource and contact to discover where he was being held, and then they launched an equally intense effort to have him released. Marcos was freed from prison in 1971. Fearing that he would be arrested and tortured again, he left the country, beginning eight years of exile. Lina Penna Sattamini describes her son’s tribulations through letters exchanged among family members, including Marcos, during the year that he was imprisoned. Her narrative is enhanced by Marcos’s account of his arrest, imprisonment, and torture. James N. Green’s introduction provides an overview of the political situation in Brazil, and Latin America more broadly, during that tumultuous era. In the 1990s, some Brazilians began to suggest that it would be best to forget the trauma of that era and move on. Lina Penna Sattamini wrote her memoir as a protest against historical amnesia. First published in Brazil in 2000, A Mother’s Cry is testimonial literature at its best. It conveys the experiences of a family united by love and determination during years of political repression.

This book is about a mother that cried out when her son was incarcerated and with so many other life experiences. The cries of other mothers that have been crying out and was afraid to express themselves. the fear, the pain, the loneliness, The difficult times and the people that would not listen or hear the cries. Mothers crying out for being deceived, humiliated, mentally and physically abused. Being distracted losing focus the flesh fighting against the spirit and the fight for courage and unconditional love.

Each of us has a Hero’s Journey. We heed calls once in a while that take us far beyond what we know of us. There are trials, tribulations, death, grief and a maze of emotions. The crippling is particularly severe when one loses a child. Those chosen to live in this dark abyss know how agonizing it is. Yet, there is a transcendent light beyond grief, one that glows our path and rekindles our faith. We are blessed with grace, before and after grief. We receive a way to let our ‘cry’ invoke ‘celebration’ of the life, before death comes calling. We come to kindle ‘Presence’ in the void of absence. Being able to live our pain creates a sacred shared space for our lament and love, leaving us humbler, wiser and stronger. Ever wondered, what is your way of avowing the confluence of life and death ! I invoke you to join my quest and discover your own truth. I invoke you to the story of my transcendental pilgrimage from annihilation to awakening. I have received my story from a world beyond worlds. I share it with you. Come … sing with me my poem and prayer.

The heartbreaking story of how Cathy Broomfield lost not only her youngest daughter Kirsty at the hands of a murderer, but also Kirsty's big sister Hayley, who died of heartbreak when the agony of her sister's loss became too much to bear.

On March 22, 1991 after a 14-day trial in Rockingham County Superior Court, New Hampshire, my daughter Pamela Smart was wrongfully found guilty in the murder of her husband, Gregory Smart. She was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering. Only 22 years old at the time, she was given a life without parole sentence. My daughter did not commit these crimes. I'm not saying this because she's my daughter, but there was no credible forensic evidence to prove she had any role in Gregory's murder. This trial spiraled into a media circus and the un-sequestered jury believed all the lies that the local news stations were saying about Pamela's role. Billy Flynn who testified at trial that he physically pulled the trigger, as well as testifying against Pamela at trial, he ended up pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 40 years to life, with the option to shave 12 years off if he behaved himself in prison. He was released in 2015. Flynn was 16 when he shot my 24-year-old son-in-law Gregory Smart to death, and accused Pamela of telling him to carry out this heinous act. Nicole's Kidman's portrayal of Pamela's life in the cult film "To Die For" is just one example of the way the media has exploited her pain, our family tragedy. I've bottled up my feelings for 30 years now and finally decided to release personal and revealing letters between Pamela and myself, to share with the public so people can see the truth behind all the lies. This is the first journal I am releasing. We have lots more to come.I will continue to fight for Pamela's freedom because she's innocent and has so much left of her life to offer society. I want her home before I die and will continue to file petitions to get the executive council of New Hampshire to free Pamela. This is my book. This is our story. This is what I live for.

All my books are biblically geared for men, women, children and families to enhance a better lifestyle in our community!