Faye Smith, founder of Hope Walking, is about to complete her first book. Asked to write about her life many times, the emotional energy has defeated her- until now. And rather than tell just her own story, she has sought out the powerful stories of ten women who open up their loves and losses to help other women walk their own brave and beautiful journeys into healing.

Contact Faye at Hope Walking to be first in line for the book's publication...

This is the book I was desperate for. A book for women everywhere who wake up one morning to find themselves suddenly single through separation, divorce or bereavement. It’s a book to bring healing, hope and practical help when you need it most. A book for those who feel they are down in a pit where life can never be good again and need a loving hand out into the sunshine. And a book for those who long to overcome the shame, stigma and loneliness of becoming considered a warning, embarrassment or threat to the couple culture around them and thrive again.

I was a career-orientated mum of a two and six year-old, part of my church leadership team and running the marriage preparation and enrichment programmes. My nice middle-class world fell apart in May 2002 when I challenged my brilliant, charismatic, high achieving lawyer husband to get professional help with his drinking one last time. Instead, he walked away after 13 years of marriage, never to return. I was 36 and for the following seven years, lived in hope he would seek help and return to us. Seven years of marriage, living and parenting apart, until his tragic death. I had barely started to process that complicated grief while supporting our two devastated children, when on the same Saturday morning two years later, my beloved daughter Gabi died of a rare trauma-related condition called Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder, drowning in the bath. Suddenly, as someone who runs a marketing and public relations consultancy to get others maximum media attention, it was my own family in the media spotlight, fending off reporters in the most tragic of circumstances as the front-page story went national.

Parts of my story has been told previously in the press to raise money for Care for the Family, the charity who supported me through both bereavements. I have been repeatedly asked to write a book, but finding the emotional energy has defeated me - until now.

This is the book on surviving life as a single woman and parent I wish I had been able to turn to when I was first separated, parenting alone and finally divorced in the church I had been part of since the age of eight. Over fourteen years of singleness, I discovered a new tribe who walked the journey together. A host of amazing women who had been wounded in many ways, not only by their partners, but by the attitudes of others in the fallout of their relationship breakdown. Women who bring their experiences, valuable lessons, and all-too relatable experiences to this book.

Their powerful first-hand stories told gut-wrenchingly candidly to me here feature heart breaking betrayals, abandonment, neglect, control and addiction. They also feature life-affirming hope, healing and practical ways to move beyond survival into a life worth living again. One which can be even better than before.

As Christians, many of us were supported and loved by fellow believers. But this book is also a wake-up call to the church and world to be part of these bright, bold, beautiful women’s healing. A call to all of us to stop judging and start radically loving.