Roberts Essex

Roberts Essex, is an author, speaker, and survivor whose life and storytelling reflect the transformative power of truth and grace. Through his debut memoir Chance, Roberts opens a deeply personal window into his journey, his work resonates with readers who have faced pain, abandonment, or identity struggles, offering hope that healing is possible through faith, courage, and forgiveness.

Roberts Essex is a pseudonym for the living man who is the character of Chance Brogdon. He continues to write about how his missing son's abduction was handled and the ensuing turmoil of that period. His actions and enduring faith during those times of tremendous emotional strain resulted in miracles of faith and redemption neither he nor his son could imagine. His character will win a rebirth of spirit, bringing new life to himself, his son, and the lives of three other unsuspecting souls struggling in their existence and awaiting their just redemption.

This work, and two additional works to come, chronicle over six decades of a man's life; the decisions he had to make, the results of those actions, and how his life and actions affected so many others.

Now in his late 60s, Roberts can reflect on the great wealth of his experiences and the resolve of persistent faith. He and his wife of over 30 years are coasting into his forecast retirement, at peace with their four children, five grandchildren, and two new great-grandchildren. Together, they enjoy photography, motorcycles, gardening, and traveling at their own pace around the country and overseas. He continues to live in rural Georgia, enjoying the tranquility and quiet of their quaint country home.
​
​Your storytelling is so vivid that readers often ask whether Chance Beginnings is a novel or even true crime. How do you respond when people learn this is a memoir drawn entirely from your lived experience?

I am humbled at the opportunity to share that revelation as, I believe, it helps further breathe life into the story and the total experience for them.

At what point did you realize your personal story—rooted in poverty, faith, and survival in the Deep South—could resonate far beyond your own life?

Truthfully after I read JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy I thought to myself, I was an English honors student in college and write case discussions, why not a book about my experiences with a bit of a twist to make it fictional enough protect people’s identity’s but not embellished to lose the realism.

Then, when I read George Dawes Green’s The Kingdoms of Savannah, I had a strong feeling and convinced myself that, yes, I could write good enough to sell at least as well as they had. Might even get a series out of a set if I got lucky enough.

You write with rare honesty about hardship, family conflict, and spiritual struggle. What was the hardest truth to put on the page, and why did you ultimately feel it needed to be told?

That’s a doozy. There are so many nuances and revelations for this character throughout it might look, or seem, difficult to the average reader which one was the most difficult to put in print. In actuality, not at all.

Any addiction is difficult to overcome, some much harder than others. Alcohol and drug abuse are far outside of the discussion as they relate to this topic altogether. Pornography. The grip of the obsession, the feeling betrayal of trust it caused to his partner, the guilt and fear of being “found out” by friends, family and colleagues, the ultimate damage it caused to all of these. Very difficult. But it is a truth that people who know someone, or suspect someone, of this can better understand maybe help with.

The book unfolds during one of America’s most turbulent eras. How did segregation, war, and cultural upheaval shape your childhood before you even had the language to understand them?

It was the environment of that era that shaped everything we did, from school to our parents work to where we ate or chose our entertainment options, even where we shopped and what parts of the Hostess City were off limits based on color alone.
The threat of nuclear war and the constant reminder potential, total annihilation by the Soviet Union were not only real but palpable: on television, radio, on frightening imagery everywhere. There was something generally “pressured” in the air; difficult to explain even for a child.

Throughout the memoir, Chance keeps asking, “Why me, and what now?” Do you see that question as a burden—or as the engine that kept you moving forward?

Both. When your entire life is one calamity after another one’s definition of “life” becomes just that – stumble, get up; get knocked down, stand up and push back; fall, recover.

Mama’s teachings, her life’s example, and guidance from God’s word provided the fuel for the engine to continue every day. It still does.

Despite the darkness, there’s humor threaded throughout the story. Was humor something you leaned on as a child, or something you discovered later as a way to make sense of the past?

Again, likely a bit of both. Mama had a great sense of humor, dad at times. She was a bit addled from time-to-time, maybe just her manner but maybe from the periodic hang-banging from the ole man; comical many times no less.

When she would get that “moment” dad’s reaction and laugh was infective. He was a bit of a prankster himself. But, because of violence and fervor of his anger there was an over-hanging threat of sudden, uncontrolled rage ever-present. That threat made the good moments even better we fostered the opportunity at every turn.
​
There is so much to be grateful for, so much joy from His teachings that hope is always with us.

You portray adults as deeply human—good people making flawed choices. How did you balance compassion with honesty when writing about your family?

My compassion for man, for all of us, comes directly from my personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the knowledge that my Heavenly Father “so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son” to forgive our sins and provide a light of hope and direction to our lives.

Because I can see the good in the world, I can certainly afford to empathize my brother’s pain. Honesty of the events, the cause and effect, is what I see when I am writing. My conveyance of the theatre in my mind imparts the “real” in the realism of the story.

I hope the reader is present with every word. I hope they feel like they have to escape the book to return to their moment.

Faith appears as both an anchor and a source of tension in your life. How did your understanding of faith evolve from childhood obedience to adult reflection?

Through the living of my life itself. We are forever evolving within our own atmosphere through that same cause-and-effect.
God does not promise a perfect life, but He does offer hope and redemption to those who strive to follow in the path of righteousness – whether we achieve it or not. If obedience during childhood is a teaching of proper behavior and restraint, the result will inevitably be the self-discipline to blend into the fabric of community.

Over six decades I have been witness to the results of those who were either victims of excessive disciplinary technique (abuse) or total lack of parental control become leaders who now make laws and constrain the teachings that result in personal obedience. To a great extent, unfortunately some of those roots are very likely from my generation and the 10–20 years that followed.

If you lose control of the child, you can not blame the adult for his or her attitude, reaction or political insights: an improperly laid cornerstone will always produce an unstable building.

Many readers say the book resonates because they felt like outsiders in their own families. What do you hope readers who feel unseen or displaced take away from your story?

I hope that readers who may feel this way in their own lives feel welcome into Chance’s life, and mine, by the warmth and optimism conveyed.

I hope each sees the life as it could have been, and should have been, for them within the framework and foundation of living through faith and conviction to God’s word. They have a home in this book, and in my works, because I share my warmth through the love of Our Father.

Only by His grace and His constant presence do we live our lives whole.

If you could speak to the boy in that rain-soaked shack in rural Georgia—the boy at the very beginning of this story—what would you tell him now?

Thank God, lil dude, we lived! You will have an adventure I wish that I could relive, with very little changes. Have fun, and listen to Mama.

---

Website: https://authorrobertsessex.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertsessexchancebeginnings/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobertsEssex/

Purchase the book here: 
https://www.amazon.com/Chance-Beginnings-Roberts-Essex-ebook/dp/B0FJ6LSJPV/