This book is not just about victimhood. It reveals how one Brisbane woman was finally able to find her voice and take back the power she lost after being sexually abused by a Catholic priest when she was a teenager.

The abuse, which was perpetrated in the 1960s, obviously left psychological scars on her. But the author writes that the Church took further power from her by means of its Towards Healing program, which was ostensibly established to help victims. She says that now she can begin to heal properly because she spoke out at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2013. In 1998 she was the major witness when her former school chaplain, Father Frank Derriman, was sentenced to jail for his crimes. But she was silenced by the Church as part of a deed of release after taking part in the Towards Healing program.

Isaacs writes that Frank Derriman used his power and threats to silence her as a child, and the Church used its power and threats to silence her as an adult. She has nothing but praise for the Royal Commission, and she says that it has given victims like her the power to speak out and take back control of their lives and destinies.

One of the saddest aspects of the author’s struggle has been her loss of faith. She and her husband, her staunchest ally since he was 16, had loved their faith, but after her Towards Healing experience they stopped going to church. Isaacs considered herself a Catholic who no longer practised her faith, but now feels she is no longer a Catholic.

This book may make difficult reading for some people, but Isaacs is no longer a victim. She joyously considers herself a survivor.

Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville

To Prey and to Silence by Joan Katherine Isaacs