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Thank You For Your Love - A Memoir of Survival by Mireille Barnard A Tale of Deep Sorrow and Survival
Thank You For Your Love - A Memoir of Survival by Mireille Barnard A Tale of Deep Sorrow and Survival
Date: 2025-11-03
There are books you read that leave you shaken to the core, Mireille Barnard's book, Thank You For Your Love - A Memoir of Survival, is one of those rare works that will keep you up at night.
I have known Mireille for many years. I've seen her rage at the world, cry into her tea at my kitchen table, and still, somehow, find the strength to be a professional and responsible member of our community. We call her 'Our little Peach' because her tales and her escapades are always sweet and juicy. She does not hide her scars; she wears them like medals from a war she never volunteered to fight in.
This memoir is a raw, at times awkwardly uncomfortable read. It's not dressed up with pretty words or false hope. It's a walk through the fire - child sexual abuse, rape, broken relationships, brutal death and a long, clawing climb out of self-destruction. But it's also a love letter to resilience, to motherhood, to the power of plants, and to the divine intelligence that lives in the wild places of our hearts.
From the Wild Coast to the wildness within, Mireille tells her story with a forceful voice, possessed only by people who have gone to the edge of sanity and were able to come back to tell their side of the story. And still, it's not the story of a victim; it's the story of a woman who refused to let her pain define her -instead she turned it into prayer, medicine, and purpose.
Today, Mireille stands firmly in her truth, raising three children on her own, grounded in gratitude and grace. She has turned her trauma into testimony, her silence into a song of a victor.
'Thank You For Your Love' isn't an easy read - but then again, healing seldom is. It's a mirror for every soul who's ever walked through the dark and wondered if they would make it out alive. Mireille shows us that love - messy, stubborn, and unconditional - is always waiting on the other side.
Today, Mireille is raising her young children in Ballito, grounded and grateful. Her shared journey reminds us that healing is not a single moment - it's a lifelong conversation with your soul.
'Thank You For Your Love' is a book for anyone who has faced themselves in the dark and chose, somehow, to keep going. It's not about survival alone. It's about remembering that love - quiet, steady, and unbroken - is always there, waiting to be noticed.