Raising Hel

By: Cynthia J. Bogard
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: March 8, 2025
ISBN: 979-8-89132-512-8
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: December 2, 2024

Cynthia Bogard takes her readers on a trip back in time to the Viet Nam war era and the birth of the women’s liberation movement in her upcoming novel, Raising Hel.

In June 1973, in Madison, Wisconsin, Helen (‘Hel’) was about to discover a whole new meaning to what her purpose in life could be. However, we need to take a step back to three years prior when she met Thorpe: the woman who would save her life. Helen wanted to further her education beyond high school, but her father disallowed any daughter of his to achieve such a notion. In his mind, a woman’s sole purpose in life was to grow up, meet a man and get down to the business of having children and taking care of the home. Helen could never live up to her father’s expectations and subsequently, conjuring every aspect of courage, she fled her childhood home to her destination of Madison, Wisconsin. Her mission was to go to college and achieve something more than getting married and settling down.

With meager finances, Helen found refuge in a dorm near the college campus. It was more hostile than anything remotely compared to a college dorm room. Nonetheless, she had a roof over her head and great expectations that her new life was before her. Not long after she arrived in Wisconsin, it became abundantly clear that there was great unrest and dissent toward the Viet Nam war, and this is when Helen finds herself in the company of Ed. He’s older, but so worldly, and given Helen had never had a boyfriend, she was enamored with everything Ed had to offer. Sadly, when the reality of the terrors and baggage Ed brought back with him from Viet Nam are revealed, Helen is faced with a fight or flight situation. Does she stay with the heroin addicted and abusive man she thought she loved? Or does she muster the same courage she had when she chose to leave her childhood home?

Cynthia Bogard does a phenomenal job of laying out the groundwork of what it must have been like for women when they were finding their voice and seeking equality. She paints a vivid picture of suppression, but not with a victim’s voice. Rather, she uses her pen to paint vivid analogies of what it means to stand one’s ground and let her voice be heard. There is an abundance of passion that resonates with her audience. Succinct sentences that pack powerful meaning such as: “…She smiled in that way she had that ancient, wise way that made you wonder if reincarnation might be a thing after all…” are tantamount to engaging her audience. There’s a lot to be said about someone who has such a great command of her pen. I’ve had the pleasure of reading another body of work by Ms. Bogard (A History of Silence), and just like it, I couldn’t stop turning the pages until I reached the epic ending of Raising Hel. Well done Ms. Bogard! May I have another?

Quill says: Raising Hel is a fantastic example of the incredible journey toward becoming a woman of substance.

For more information about Raising Hel, please visit the author's website at: www.cynthiajbogard.com

Author Interview