‘People congratulated me when I left my abusive marriage, but I didn’t feel like celebrating. I felt loss, grief, shame, anger, resentment, regret, uncertainty, relief and excitement. How can one person feel so many emotions at once? Where could I go for help? Who would understand?’

From these questions, the charity Broken to Brilliant was born, where survivors help other survivors rebuild their lives using the power of story.

In Terror to Triumph, twelve domestic violence survivors describe the terror they experienced and the additional challenges they encountered from a system that was supposed to help them.

Most importantly, they tell of the practical steps they have taken – physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually – to journey from darkness to light and build new lives. They tell of continued recovery, and how they have reclaimed self to reach a sense of triumph.

Broken to Brilliant is an Australian not-for-profit charity where domestic violence survivors mentor other survivors to re-establish successful lives.

When we saw the impact our first book, Broken to Brilliant, had on people’s lives – how the words breathed hope into people’s hearts, how it gave them a spark that jump-started a new chapter in their lives, and how the power of people’s stories created ripples of recovery and repair – we could not turn away and stop these ripples of healing. There had to be a second book.

We salute each of our authors for their courage and dedication, and hope Terror to Triumph will bring change and possibility into your life, too.

Jo Van Es