Divine Child: A Quilt

Author

Hillary Jo ForemanFollow

Year of Award

2025

Document Type

Thesis - Campus Access Only

Degree Type

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Degree Name

Creative Writing (Nonfiction)

Department or School/College

School of Arts and Humanities

Committee Chair

Christopher Dombrowski

Commitee Members

Brian Blanchfield, Heather Voorhees

Subject Categories

Nonfiction

Abstract

This memoir in essays follows its narrator from childhood into adulthood in a spiraling journey through trauma. What the mind cannot bear to remember, the body holds onto. Experiences coalesce like a patchwork, repeating despite the trauma they inflict in an effort to create a whole, to solve the mystery of the origin of abuse. These essays explore the narrator’s fraught relationship with her father and the evangelical god with whom she grew up, as well as the men in her life who attempt to assume similar power over her. As she begins to make meaning of the pattern in which she’s been stuck, healing follows through reclamation of her body, her agency, and her memories.

Recommended Citation

Foreman, Hillary Jo, "Divine Child: A Quilt" (2025). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 12516.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/12516