Title: Peter & Jane’s Eternal Love
Author: Jane McIntosh Holland
Publisher: URLink Print & Media
ISBN: 978-1-64753-513-1
Genre: Memoirs
Pages: 46
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
Mental illness is a health condition which is a dimension of reality unto itself, causing sequences and conditions of thoughts unimaginable to those of us who live within the “normal” bell-curve. Yet, as revealed in Peter & Jane’s Eternal Love, many emotions are the same no matter of the internal imbalances of the chemistry of the human mind.
Author Jane McIntosh Holland begins with these two sentences, “At 33, I am diagnosed with Schizophrenia Disorder and hospitalized for 2 weeks in East Wing. It is scary discovering that you could possibly be going mad, you don’t really know until it happens to you.” This sets the tone for a story of overcoming obstacles to maintain cognitive thoughts and direction, among the tidal forces of mental illness, while seeking out many productive experiences – all supported by the love of her parents, and, the meeting of Peter Douglas, a fellow patient in the “clubhouse” for recovering MI patients.
Her memoir is casually written, without fully adhering to formal punctuation, making the narrative very candid and personal. Readers can judge the content of the message from the unpretentious writing, rather than being caught up in some verbose “spin” of story-telling. By this it becomes a very honest story, albeit brief yet poignant, bringing a truly insightful peak into the world of recovering MI patients.
The story is lovely, bringing in many of the cultural aspects of Australian society, along with a few descriptive paragraphs of the landscape. Peter and Jane’s love for dogs is also woven throughout the text, further humanizing the emotions of a couple seeking a future together. That future is cut short as Peter discovers he has cancer, but that doesn’t stop the couple from marrying and enjoying whatever time is left together.
The ending of the book displays a dozen or so photographs of Peter and Jane, along with the others talked about in their love story – even the border collie is in one of the pictures. Although readers can make out the significance of the people in the photos, I feel a short caption as to the details of each photo would have been a pleasant addition.
Peter & Jane’s Eternal Love is a respectful story, and a deservingly honorable accolade to the ever-lasting memory of Peter Douglas. May he, and all, find peace in the eternal light of God.