The Blank Cheque - Fern Frances

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Résumé :
INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY How can THIS be my life? I am standing totally alone in the early morning hours on an empty street. I'm in a gargantuan Indian city during a global pandemic! What happened to me? Gemma was young. So was Prateek. A cross-cultural relationship - cursed from the start. The early signs were there for Gemma to see, but the blindfold was tied, and the damage had begun. They asked for dowry. Isn't that an old custom? Gemma was there for Prateek at the start…and still there to the very end. So, after decades together, how did it all go so wrong? How do you go from western middle-class life to homelessness in India during the COVID-19 pandemic? How do you nearly lose your life? 'BLANK CHEQUE' (Noun) an unlimited freedom of action The entitlement… 'The Blank Cheque' has been written for the millions of people who cannot speak out about abuse for fear of retribution; for the countless abandoned or abused NRI (Non-Resident Indian) brides, who, like Gemma, find themselves alone in a foreign country; and for people around the world who silently face the subtle (and not so subtle) lesser-known forms of emotional, psychological and financial abuse every day. The invisible must be made visible.