Cross-genre and character driven, The Daughter Bond is a modern tale of generational trauma, buried beliefs, and unexpected love.
C.P. Florez tells the story of psychologist Irene Miral and her obsession with her mother's tragic tales of abuse and strange perceptual events. The nuanced narrative explores the PTSD cases of eight women as Irene pushes back against the misdiagnoses that have trapped them in a dysfunctional mental health system. Memories of her mother's experiences haunt Irene's professional and personal life.
Irene leads one of the country's first programs devoted to treating women traumatized by violence. Determined to advocate for her patients, she often butts heads with the chauvinistic supervising psychiatrist, Dr. Freile. Each woman in the unit is disabled by unresolved trauma, yet he disagrees with the PTSD diagnoses and Irene's treatment modes. Irene suspects he wishes to dissolve the program. She must not allow it. She wants to rectify the world for women and will fight to help her patients regain the capacity to heal and not become victims ever again.
After her mother, Alma, passes away, work rules the center of Irene's life more than ever, and her obsession with her mother's "visions" becomes a quest.
Ignorant of how sharing her tragic stories with a young Irene could influence the child's thinking, Alma kept telling them, over and over again, often repeating, "men are evil." The cant became a litany, an echo in Irene's mind. As a result, she does not trust men and avoids intimacy. At thirty-six, she remains single.
Alma not only gave accounts of her husband's abuse and the loss of the children of her first marriage, but she also told a tale of a young woman in white light who comforted her during her moments of most profound strife. Irene sensed she could formulate a link between the flashbacks that impaired her patients and her mother's perceptual experiences. She dares to experiment beyond the norms of scientific inquiry and agrees to collaborate on an innovative ESP research project.
Fascinating findings and the unexpected fondness that develops between her and her research partner, David, keep her invested in the risky endeavor. But straddling the realms of science and the paranormal will cost her dearly.
Just when real love blossoms and breakthroughs with her patients validate her professional efforts, her life is unexpectedly upturned. Fate seems bent on cheating her of happiness.
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