Today we talk about The Revenge of Happiness, a book by Esté Schoemann, published with our Publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author, Esté Schoemann, to get to know her better, what prompted her to the writing of her book The Revenge of Happiness, as well as what of her personal life experiences she wrote about in her book.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What prompted to the writing of your autobiographical book?
I have always said that one day I would write a book, even though I never knew exactly what it would be about. When I walked away from my previous marriage and the life I had known, I carried with me newfound wisdom, revelation, and a great deal of hurt. Talking has always been part of how I process, and my friends often told me I should share my story. So, when the opportunity arose, I embraced it. What better way to tell my story than not as a victim, but as the hero of my own new chapter? I am not special, and my story is similar to those of thousands of others. That is the beauty of it: if an ordinary woman like me can walk away and start over, so can you. I hope readers will see that no journey is ever wasted. Even the most painful seasons can leave us with wisdom, strength, and resilience we never knew we had. When we surrender our broken pieces to God, He can turn them into something purposeful, beautiful, and far greater than we ever imagined possible.
- What of your personal life experiences did you write in your book?
In this book, I write about the formative experiences that shaped me, beginning with a loving childhood home where affection was not often expressed physically. Although I knew I was loved, I grew up feeling I had to prove I was good enough to deserve love, which led to an unhealthy pursuit of perfection and eventually affected my relationship with my body and food. I also share the pain and secrecy of becoming pregnant at nineteen and having an abortion within the context of my conservative Christian upbringing, where shame and condemnation deepened my struggle. The book explores my health challenges, the transformation that awakened my passion for coaching others, and the failure of my marriage – his alcoholism, my own wounds, unspoken taboos, and destructive patterns. Most importantly, I write about my healing journey: the process of unlearning who I thought I had to be and rediscovering who I truly am – a loved child of God. Through that journey, I was accompanied by my now husband, Antonio, who has taught me so much about love and belonging.
- What would like to hear from your readers?
More than anything, I would love to hear that readers recognised parts of themselves in my story and felt less alone because of it. I hope they will feel encouraged to be honest about their own journeys – the pain, the mistakes, the questions, and the healing still taking place. If my story can help someone believe that their past does not define them, that brokenness can become beautiful, and that God can redeem even the most difficult seasons, then sharing it will have been worth it. I would love to hear that readers walked away with renewed hope, courage, and permission to begin again. My deepest prayer is that they will see themselves not as victims of what happened to them, but as people who are loved, carried, and capable of becoming whole.
- How did your passion for Writing start?
I think my passion for writing started with an active imagination and a deep need to express what was happening inside me. As a child, I loved writing school essays, creating my own little “short stories”, and keeping diaries. Writing gave shape to my thoughts and helped me make sense of the world around me. As I grew older, it became much more than imagination; it became part of my healing. I would often sit and write down thoughts, prayers, and revelations that came to me as I navigated different seasons of life. Some of them were just small reflections, almost like little pages of wisdom, but they helped me process, understand, and remember what God was teaching me. Looking back, I realise writing has always been one of the ways I find my voice. It allows me to turn experience into meaning, pain into perspective, and ordinary moments into something that can encourage someone else.
- Are you working on a new writing project you can tell us about?
At the moment, I am in the process of reinventing my coaching business, so I am not actively working on a new writing project just yet. In many ways, writing The Revenge of Happiness felt like the final step in my healing journey – a way of closing that chapter, making peace with the past, and walking through the next open door. That part of my life is now past tense. I have forgiven myself, I have moved forward, and in the process, I discovered a whole new life waiting for me. So much has changed, and I now carry a vision for many new things still to come. Whether that becomes another book, or a project to empower survivors of Human Trafficking, I remain open to where God leads me next, because I know that He still has work for me here. Who knows? Perhaps The Revenge of Happiness is only the preview of great things still to come.
Europe Books thanks the author, Esté Schoemann, once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside her on the editorial path that led to the publication of her book The Revenge of Happiness. We wish her the best of luck for her future works.
To you, my readers, may this story connect with you and allow you to connect within yourself, so that it can make you feel less lonely, it helps you find courage in finding your path of healing and rebirth, rising from critical and difficult moments you lived in the past. Now it’s time to face and get the most out of the present!
So, my dear readers, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your Editor!