LLP-122 Innocent In Chicago by Mary Jenkins


Foreword


In this second volume of Innocent in Chicago, the author, Mary Jenkins,
portrays with vivid clarity the slow and painful destruction of all
Cynthia's hopes, dreams and morals. In her search for love, she becomes
desperately lost in the depths of degradation, sacrificing her body to
pay for her growing need for drugs and kicks. The youthful, innocent
curiosity about sex and life have long disappeared and she is forced to
face the stark reality of the depraved, warped world into which she has
fallen. She surrounds herself with every type of undesirable, for this
has become the only type of life she knows, and although she realizes in
her heart that she is wrong, she is powerless to change it.

The first tender emotions that she felt were love have become lust,
depravation and an aching need, a raging fire that would inevitably
consume her.

The Publishers feel that Miss Jenkins' graphic and genuine descriptions
of what goes through the mind of a young girl as she struggles among the
people who are going to be her ruination, without the knowledge or
experience to cope with this sordid way of life, are an important
contribution, a grim warning to parents of children who are in their
teens. Cynthia was not a "bad" girl, but had come from an honest,
God-fearing home, yet fell prey to people who took advantage of her
innocence for their own evil gain.

It is not easy to accept the fact that regardless of how one is raised,
you cannot stifle the thirst for sexual knowledge and the temptation to
try something new. The best you can do is try to guide your children
through these stormy years, in hopes that they will eventually make the
right decision.

Unfortunately, Cynthia chose to run the gamut of degradation before
realizing that she may be past the point of no return; however her
realization of this fact becomes her slow savior. She discovers that the
price she has to pay for her actions is estrangement and prostitution,
and it isn't until the death of the man with whom she had been living
that she is shocked into the actuality of her predicament.

We feel that the reader will gain new insight into the problems
surrounding dope, moral laxity and the struggle to overcome them. The
rebuilding of a life is not an easy thing once the basic foundation has
been disintegrated and washed away ... not easy, but it can be done.

This second volume of Innocent in Chicago will enlighten you, depress
you and give you hope all at the same time. Because the characters are
fast living, the story is fast-moving, and therefore highly readable.

It is the hope of the Publishers that this book will be taken in the
vein in which it was written, an admonition. It should be considered an
outstanding achievement that such a story could be written with such
depth, cognizance and empathy for the youth of this generation.
THE PUBLISHERS Sausalito, California December 1968


End of Page 1. See llp-122.txt for full story.