In her harrowingly gritty debut novel, Debra Busman sketches the life of a young girl making her way on the streets of Los Angeles. From a heartbreakingly young age, Taylor suffers abuse and neglect. She finds solace with the stray dogs roaming near her home and learns to steal in order to provide them food and treats.
As a teen, Taylor trades the terror of her family for the nightmare of prostitution; the dogs she encounters here are merciless and dangerous. But she discovers a secret Eden living in discarded junkyard cars with Jackson, another young girl on the streets and Taylor's first love.
Through a life of constant change and upheaval, Like a Woman reveals Taylor's strength and resilience, the hardness allowing her to make it day to day, the pliability to bounce back when the rug is yanked from beneath her. She also flashes evidence of the compassionate, generous, loving being at the core of her fatefully unfortunate soul. Taylor, working as a ranch hand, tries to rope a spirited horse and admits, "I think you're just like me. I think you want some company. You just don't want somebody chasing after you, all rude and all.... Only difference is, you're a better runner than me. Me, I just gotta stand my ground and fight."
Like a Woman mimics Taylor's two sides; it is lyrically beautiful in its depictions of thoughts and feelings, while being abrasively blunt with dialogue and actions. The sum of the two is a breathtaking first novel. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts