What happens when the City of Light turns
dark?
At twenty-two, Deborah Svec-Carstens leaves
small-town Iowa for Paris, hoping a year
abroad will bring adventure, independence, and
a fresh start. But just as she begins to
feel at home, a morning run ends in sexual
assault.
Every instinct tells her to leave. Instead,
she chooses to stay.
As the months pass, Deborah leans on an
unexpected community of friends, wrestles
with questions of faith, and finds purpose in
caring for Lily, the young girl entrusted to
her care. Slowly, she discovers that healing
is not a destination, but a path taken one
step at a time.
Set against the cafés, parks, and
neighborhoods of Paris, Toward the Light is a coming-of-
age memoir of trauma, resilience, and the
courage of simply staying.
Spiral Staircase Press (September 15,
2026)
Audiobook: 979-8-9958853-2-0
ASIN: 979-8-9958853-0-6
ISBN-13: 979-8-9958853-1-3
Print length: 308 pages
Purchase a copy of Toward the Light
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Light-Paris-Deborah-Svec-Carstens/dp/B0HCGM39NR/
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toward-the-light-deborah-svec-carstens/1150945556?ean=9798995885313
Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/toward-the-light-a-year-in-paris-deborah-svec-carstens/1499e712ad63e4b6?ean=9798995885313&bkshp-astro=t
Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9798995885313
You can also add this to your GoodReads
reading list
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256239924
About the Author, Deborah Svec-Carstens
Deborah Svec-Carstens, JD, MTS, is a writer,
book coach, spiritual director, and former lawyer whose work explores healing
after trauma, embodiment, and spirituality. Her debut memoir, Toward the Light:
A Year in Paris, traces her search for meaning and connection in the months
after a traumatic assault in Paris in her early twenties.
Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in
bioStories, the Brevity blog, the Des Moines Register, and Ember & Vine
Nonfiction Anthology. Her work has received recognition from Writer’s Digest,
WOW! Women on Writing, and Memoir Magazine.
Deborah writes The Spiral Staircase on
Substack and offers workshops and presentations. She lives in Central Iowa with
her husband, where she writes and accompanies others in their journeys of
healing and story.
Website: https://deborahsveccarstens.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Deborah.SvecCarstens.Author/
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