Sophomore Candria D’Souza published her book, “Break the Silence: Understanding and Addressing Domestic Violence,” at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, she said.
D’Souza, who is president of Dragon Flower Union, a club on campus that aims to spread awareness about domestic violence, hoped to bring light to an issue that she feels is largely misunderstood, she said.
“The book is about many different topics concerning domestic violence,” D’Souza said. “The book covers topics such as causes of domestic violence, legal policies, impacts of the issue on different types of people, etc. I wanted to try to write about different topics in regards to domestic violence since it is a multifaceted issue.”
D’Souza wanted to spread awareness about domestic violence in an easy and accessible format so she could reach a wider audience, and a book seemed to be the best medium to pursue, she said.
“I did some extensive research on domestic violence, and I thought to myself, why not compile all the research I’m doing into a book, because there are so many aspects to this problem?” D’Souza said. “If I wrote a book, I could cover a little bit of each aspect that I want to talk about, into just one book that I could read in one sitting.”
D’Souza had never really taken an interest in the issue of domestic violence until she joined Dragon Flower Union, a club that hopes to spread awareness about domestic violence among students, she said.
“I joined the club because I wanted to learn more about domestic violence and understand how I could help and just expand my knowledge about the subject,” D’Souza said.
Dragon Flower Union’s members, officers, and advisor were also a huge support for D’Souza after the book was published, she said.
“After I actually published the book, I told the club and, since then, our advisor Mrs. Roy became really important to me,” D’Souza said. “She told everyone about the book and she shared it with a lot of her friends and colleagues.”
English teacher and Dragon Flower Union advisor Ginger Roy knew D’Souza was an intelligent student since she taught her in English 1A during D’Souza’s freshman year, Roy said. However, it was after she told her about the book that Roy truly understood D’Souza’s full potential, she added.
“I ordered a dozen of them (copies of the book) on Amazon and gave them as gifts and had her autograph them and she is just truly amazing and passionate,” Roy said. “She’s the kind of student who gives me hope because she’s the kind of person who leads to real change in the world.”
Roy believes that the book was intelligent and thorough, especially seeing as it was written by such a young author, she said.
“She approaches the subject with a lot of sensitivity and tenderness,” Roy said. “Even though she’s very young, she clearly realizes the trauma that this topic can bring for a lot of people. I think that she does it with just a lot of care and thought.”
D’Souza is extremely passionate and takes a lot of initiative when it comes to bringing awareness to this topic, senior and Dragon Flower Union’s secretary Andrew Zhu said.
“We all thought it was good, of course,” Zhu said. “It’s such a great, great book, and it does a great job in helping bring light to DV (domestic violence),” Zhu said.
D’Souza looks back fondly on the impact the club has had on her life, she said. D’Souza is also delighted with the way the book has been performing, she added.
“I was surprised by how much it spread,” D’Souza said. “I’ve even been recognized in the hallways, and that was really surprising. So I’m very grateful for our advisor and our club members and my fellow officers.”
D’Souza publishes debut book on domestic violence, shares passion
