“The Meaning of Love” (365 pages; Armin Lear Press; paperback $24.95; ebook $5.99, 2025) is a memoir about abuse, illness and redemption.

Johanna S. Billings writes candidly about her traumatic relationship with her mother, and about growing up with her developmentally-challenged sister.

Billings says her story “tells people they are not alone or doomed. They can overcome and have hope.”

Billings and her sister Nicole were born in Pennsylvania. She resided for 20 years in Danielsville, Lehigh Township, Northampton County.

Her mother and father divorced the same year that her sister was placed in a nursing home.

Billings says that her mother became increasingly abusive. Her father was killed by a drunk driver before he could regain custody.

Billings says she did not realize she was violently abused until she was told by a counselor. The book states that her mother was mistreated by her own father.

“I began to relate to my mother after my own therapy. Not long after my husband and I got married, I wrote her a letter to try to connect.

“I saw that it must have been a struggle for her not to be able to care for her own disabled child. I began accepting what had happened,” Billings says in a phone interview from her home in Greenville, Me.

Billings began writing the book about 25 years ago. “I was trying to figure out how to tell the story, which evolved to describe the healing process.”

Billings was an editorial assistant for the Lehigh Valley Press newspapers and was editor from 2011 to 2015 of Northampton Press, Whitehall-Coplay Press and Catasauqua Press.

She has been a photographer for many years. Some of her work can be seen at: www.jsbillingsphoto.com

She and her husband moved to Maine in 2015.

“Help is more easily accessible in Maine. In Pennsylvania, you usually have to see a specialist for things, and a lot of people don’t have time. In Maine, a doctor has to be a jack of all trades,” she says.

Medication problems led to what she calls the “Great Bipolar Incident,” which caused suicidal thoughts. “I stopped one medication and started another, but I did not know that you have to be weaned off antidepressants gradually.”

Billings says she was dealing with physical changes from surgery and PTSD. With the help of therapy, she began to heal.

In 2020, she and her husband bought an antiques shop.

“My husband and I have been lifelong collectors of Superballs [a very bouncy toy ball], rose bowls, and all kinds of weird things.” The store is in the process of moving and is expected to go online.

The weekend before we spoke, Billings says she sold $11,000 worth of buttons.

The Lily Cat: North Woods Antiques and Buttons has three cats. “Lily is the CEO of the shop. Little Guy is the document shredder. And Pash is the food reduction expert.”

All of the cats that Billings has had in her life are mentioned in the book, and she acknowledges that their unconditional love was a big part of her life.

Billings says that people in an emotionally-distraught situation like hers should “keep trying and keep looking for healing.

“You can get help from a therapist and people in your life, but no one person can be everything to you. You get certain things from certain people.”

And she adds, “Kindness really matters, even in small ways.”

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com