Child abuse Books

Book SynopsisEver since she was a child, Linda Joy Myers felt the power of the past. As the third daughter in her family to be abandoned or estranged by a mother, she observed the consequences of that heritage on the women she loved as well as herself. But thanks to the stories told to her by her great-grandmother, Myers received a gift that proved crucial in her life: the idea that everyone is a walking storybook, and that we all have within us the key to a deeper understanding of life—the secret stories that make themselves known even without words. Song of the Plains is a weaving of family history that starts in the Oklahoma plains and spans over forty years as Myers combs through dusty archives, family stories, and genealogy online. She discovers the secrets that help to explain the fractures in her family, and the ways in which her mother and grandmother found a way not only to survive the great challenges of their eras, but to thrive despite mental illness and abuse. She discovers how decisions made long ago broke her family apart—and she makes it her life's work to change her family story from one of abuse and loss to one of finding and creating a new story of hope, forgiveness, healing, and love.Trade Review2017 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in Women's Issues 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Relationships (Non-Fiction) "Linda Joy Myers has written a remarkable, heartbreaking, and hopeful story. Song of the Plains is a memoir of fierce longing and a quest to understand the fragile bonds of family. Myers stitches together her past, finding solace in the landscape of the Great Plains and weaving in elements of story like a poet, detective, artist, therapist, mother, daughter, and historian. The fascinating and fractured women in this memoir will continue to whisper their songs for generations to come." —Melissa Cistaro, Author of Pieces of My Mother “Linda Joy Myers, already an established thought leader in the memoir genre, solidifies her legacy with this meditation on ancestry, place, generational pain, healing, and redemption. The author’s consistently braided themes of memoir as art, craft, and psychological process are enhanced by her longstanding career as a marriage and family therapist. The writing is cohesive and evocative, the research impeccable, and the ultimate triumph over both nature and nurture compelling.” —Kathleen Adams LPC, Director, Center for Journal Therapy, Inc., author of Journal to the Self, and editor of Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice “Linda Joy Myers’s search for continuity in her family history brings to mind E. M. Forster’s quote, ‘Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted.” Her search for connection deeply resonates in a time when social media makes connections that are broad but shallow. Rooted in place and personal stories, Song of the Plains is an antidote to the superficial and the faux. Myers’s writing plumbs the depths of real experience. This important narrative is crafted to last.” —Sue William Silverman, author of The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew “Intelligent, heartfelt, and tenderly observed, Song of the Plains is a memoir about identity, storytelling, and the healing power of telling the truth. Raised in a family haunted by secrets, Linda Joy Myers set out on a journey to discover what the women in her clan were hiding—and why—as a way to untangle the legacy of inherited-but-hidden trauma. As Myers writes, ‘If we hide or don’t tell our stories, part of who we are goes missing.’ If you’ve ever puzzled over your own missing pieces or questioned who you might be without your own secrets, this beautiful book will help light your way.” —Mark Matousek, author of Sex Death Enlightenment and The Boy He Left Behind “Song of the Plains is an emotional and captivating read. From the very first page, Linda Myers leads the reader on a journey into the inner landscape of a complex family dynamic that invites curiosity and empathy. Myers is a brilliant storyteller, weaving together well-researched details with answers to plaguing life questions that reveal the reality of ‘home’—turning a preconceived definition on its head. This story touches readers in a way that stirs compassion for the complexity of people and their role in a larger framework known as ‘family.’ It makes one wonder about their own sense of home and what they’ve come to believe about it.” —Tina M. Games, author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self Discovery “The descriptions in Song of the Plains are downright elegiac. I felt I was standing on the red earth in Oklahoma, feeling the wind in my face. This next volume of Myers’s quest for understanding and forgiveness of her foremothers and family will inspire anyone seeking to understand their roots.” —Sharon Lippincott, author of The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing “We all have stories that change our lives. Sometimes we remain silent, but the silence only gives the story more power. In Song of the Plains, memoir expert Linda Joy Myers goes deeply into her own life story and reveals how she transformed it into a new one that helped her move forward with hope and love. Another moving healing journey related to family relationships from Myers, this book is a must-read for anyone who wants to explore—and heal—the past.” —Nina Amir, best-selling author of Creative Visualization for Writers, The Author Training Manual, and How to Blog a Book “For years, as I considered the mystery of my childhood, I wondered, ‘Who were these people who molded me?’ Song of the Plains asks that question and explores the decades-long saga of the author’s search for answers. Like an ancestral detective, Myers peers into the evidence and follows historical bread crumbs, attempting to make sense of her family’s earlier lives.” —Jerry Waxler, author of The Memoir Revolution

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat could be cooler, thinks teen Elizabeth Garber in 1965, than to live in a glass house designed by her architect dad? Ever since childhood, she’s adored everything he loves—his XKE Jaguar, modern art, and his Eames black leather chair—and she’s been inspired by his passionate intensity as he teaches her about modern architecture. When Woodie receives a commission to design a high-rise dormitory—a tower of glass—for the University of Cincinnati, Elizabeth, her mother and brothers celebrate with him. But less than twenty years later, Sander Hall, the mirror-glass dormitory, will be dynamited into rubble. Implosion: Memoir of an Architect’s Daughter delves into the life of visionary architect Woodie Garber and the collision of forces in the turbulent 1970s that caused his family to collapse. Soon after the family’s move into Woodie’s glass house, his need to control begins to strain normal bonds; and Elizabeth’s first love, a young black man, triggers his until-then hidden racism. This haunting memoir describes his descent into madness and follows Elizabeth’s inspiring journey to emerge from her abuse, gain understanding and freedom from her father’s control, and go on to become a loving mother and a healer who helps others.Trade Review2019 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist 2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Other) 2018 International Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir 2018 Kirkus Best Books “…poetic and incisive…Many readers will see aspects of their own family histories in this powerful saga of trauma and healing. An alternately wistful and searing exploration of a troubled legacy.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Garber’s extraordinary debut memoir tells the story of her abusive father, architect Woodie Garber….and steadily charts his and her family’s descent into chaos and madness, as Woodie’s commissions dry up and he ceases to receive the recognition he believes he deserves….Recommended for survivors of abuse and those interested in knowing more about the ways in which great professional success often comes at the sacrifice of one’s own family and private life.” —Library Journal “I was riveted by this story of an adoring daughter struggling to escape the dominance of her brilliant, charismatic father. Garber writes beautifully about the layered complications of family love.” —Monica Wood, author of The One-in-a-Million Boy, When We Were the Kennedys, Any Bitter Thing, and Ernie’s Ark “In Implosion: The Architect's Daughter, Elizabeth Garber has voyaged far into the complexities of memory, navigating the treacherous currents of shame and confusion, and returned, rowing stroke by stroke, sentence by sentence, with a beautiful, clear, heartbreaking tale. Courageous, horrible, terrible, and wonderful, this is a dark and tragic beauty of a memoir that could only be written by someone determined to be fiercely honest in her remembering and her art.” —Richard Hoffman, author of Half the House and Love & Fur “Few books have narrated the personal dimension of modernism like this one. The contradictions that bedeviled modern architecture—a passionate yet impersonal elegance—were played out in a glass house dominated by Elizabeth Garber's father, Woodie, a midwestern modern architect extraordinaire. How his daughter made her way through the tangles of his imperious faith makes for fascinating reading. What was it like to live from day to day in the self-conscious embrace of the modern? Elizabeth Garber has the insight and tenacity to tell us that and more.” —Baron Wormser, former Poet Laureate of Maine, author of ten books of poetry, books on writing craft, two novels, and one memoir, The Road Washes Out in Spring: A Poet's Memoir of Living Off the Grid “This poignant, very personal memoir by the daughter of one of Cincinnati’s premier modern architects traces his ascent and decline, as they parallel those of his style and discipline at the same moments in time. Elizabeth Garber’s exquisite prose compliments the love of art and architecture she learned from her father. Her forthrightness and honesty resemble the direct, unpainted, and undecorated aesthetic her father promoted, but her gentle sensitivity is all her own. This is a book about something even more complicated than the most difficult art—family life.” —Jayne Merkel, architectural historian and author of Eero Saarinen “Implosion is a remarkable feat. Garber allows us to revile her brilliant and destructive architect father as fully as she did when she was coming of age in the 1960s. She also allows us to forgive him as she ultimately does in this wise, searching book. Her story is an echo of the tumultuous cultural revolutions that define her generation. As an architect does, Garber constructs her story room by room, filling the space with both shadow and light. This is a beautiful book, written by a new and exciting writer.” —Meredith Hall, author of Without a Map “Elizabeth Garber writes with searing clarity about the years she spent living under the oppressive reign of her father. But this isn't just a book about a deeply troubled father-daughter relationship. Rather, it's a story about a family, an art form (architecture), a generation, and a decade in American history that we're still trying to understand. By reading Implosion, one not only gains access to the intimate, tragic details of Garber's broken youth but also to the public world outside her father's realm: one of parallel turmoil, complexity, and yes: implosion. A finely wrought narrative by a brave, unflinching writer.” —Jaed Coffin, author of A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants: A Memoir “Elizabeth Garber’s memoir drives as well as her dad’s fine sports car: sleek, modernist sentences, high-power clarity of perception, bold telling it like it was. Garber never loses touch with the forms of pain caused by her dad’s illness. She honors the vulnerability of the whole family in the grips of it, including him. In the end, at the heart of the matter is compassion and the kindness of unconditional love, in spite of it all. And the simple beauty of gathering stones found on a clean, sandy beach.” —Alexandra Merrill, international women’s leadership consultant "…un-put-downable….Elizabeth, a poet, acupuncturist, and mother, has, like an architect—ecologically using salvage materials—taken the shock and trauma of the family’s disintegration and built from them a powerful narrative you are reluctant to leave." —The Architectural Record

Read more less

Book SynopsisNo one could have imagined how as a child Beverly Engel could have managed to become who she is today—an internationally known expert on abuse recovery and the best-selling author of twenty-two self-help books. This is the raw, candid story of how she made her way in the world in spite of her mother’s neglect, unreasonable expectations and constant criticism; in spite of being sexually abused, first at four years old and then at nine; and in spite of being raped at twelve. Raising Myself takes readers on a remarkable journey, showing us how Engel, who was basically on her own from the age of four, learned how to cope with a neglectful, narcissistic mother while being surrounded by a cast of characters that included eccentrics and misfits, a religious fanatic, child molesters, rapists, and hoodlums. It is a soul-searching memoir about how she came dangerously close to the edge of becoming a child molester, a criminal, and a suicide, and how she battled her inner demons and struggled to keep her heart open and to “reinvent” herself so she could follow her dream of making something of herself. Powerfully inspiring and unflinchingly honest, Raising Myself is a story of remarkable resilience and insight.Trade Review“A gut-wrenching, cleareyed coming-of-age memoir…clean writing well serves this account of a child’s abuse and survival.” —Kirkus Reviews “Beverly Engel saved my life by showing me, and millions of others, how to recover from the aftermath of abuse. Now, we get to discover the woman behind the recovery movement. Through her personal story, Beverly illuminates how quickly our innocence can be destroyed by the subtle choices those who are supposed to love us make, and more important, teaches us how to have hope for a better future.” —Rhonda Britten, Emmy Award-winner, best-selling author of Fearless Living, founder of Fearless Living.org. "This story of reinvention is a must-read for anyone needing evidence that your past doesn’t define you." —Bookstr “When we write a coming-of-age memoir, we become the witness to the life of the child we once were, someone who did not have the larger perspective of the writer/narrator. Raising Myself asks the reader to join Beverly Engel as an abused and neglected child, to see the world through her eyes. The reader is comforted in knowing that she will survive and heal, and the book gives hope to those who have been lost.” —Linda Joy Myers, President of the National Association of Memoir Writers; author of Don’t Call Me Mother, Song of the Plains, and Power of Memoir “Beverly writes with poignancy and insight about a horrific childhood that could have broken her spirit. Raising Myself is the remarkable journey of a lost child becoming an empowered young woman. We follow Beverly as she journeys from one mishap to another, searching for herself, searching for love, searching for meaning. The fact that she was successful at maneuvering through the minefield of her childhood is a testament to her courage, strength, and resilience. There is brutal honesty here, but there is also a great deal of hope.” —Susan Forward, Ph.D., author of Mothers Who Can’t Love and Toxic Parents “It’s easy enough to tell women to 'say no' but, in reality, there is nothing easy about saying no if you are a woman. Engel’s book doesn’t only shed light on why this remains true, even in the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp, but it provides readers with critical, pragmatic tools and strategies designed to confront and report gender harassment, sexual assault, and childhood abuse effectively.” —Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger

Read more less

Book SynopsisA wife and mother of a grown son and two teen daughters, a woman enjoying her career and life, Mary Jo Doig wants nothing more from life than to live out her days embraced by the deep roots of family, friends, and her community. Tightly wrapped in a life-long protective cocoon, she has no idea how wounded she is—until, on one starless night following the death of a relative, she has a flashback that opens a dark passageway back to her childhood and the horrific secrets buried deep inside her psyche. Part mystery and part inspirational memoir, Patchwork is the riveting story of one woman who strived to live a life full of love, only to endure tragedies with two of her children and struggles in her marriages—the consequences of a mysterious life-long behavior unnoticed by her family or teachers. Like a needle stitching together a quilt, the memories Mary Jo recovers following her first flashback show her why her early years were threaded with a need to be invisible, as well as core beliefs that she was stupid, not good enough, and vastly different from her peers. Shattered by these revelations, overcome by depression, hopelessness, and a loss of trust in others, Mary Jo embarks on a healing journey through the underground of her life that ultimately leads to transformation.Trade Review"In Patchwork, Mary Jo Doig explores the nature of memory and consciousness, connecting the threads of the past to weave a beautiful story of healing and transformation." —Linda Joy Myers, president of the National Association of Memoir Writers, author of Song of the Plains

Read more less

Book SynopsisOne terrible night in 2011, Brin Miller’s life is upended when she learns that her teenage stepson has been sexually abusing her two daughters. Once this secret is discovered, Brin’s marriage, already crumbling and unable to sustain itself, breaks apart. But against all odds, Brin and her husband, along with their daughters, are gradually able to learn resilience, forgiveness, strength, and courage, and—miraculously—Brin’s marriage begins to heal. Haunting and horrible yet hopeful and beautiful, Buried Saints is a fast and raw memoir of forgiveness and resilience, a revelatory look into a family deeply destroyed by deceit, and a truly astonishing story about the intense, unpredictable love of two parents who have to decide whether to fall or flourish in a tragic situation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBeing Mean is about learning how to acknowledge and live with incomprehensible experiences in the healthiest ways possible. Told in vignettes relative to markers of age and experience, Patricia Eagle reveals the heartbreak and destruction of sexual abuse, from age four to thirteen, by her father. Eagle uses dissociation and numbing in response to his abusive behavior, her mother’s complacency, and as a way to block her own sense of self. How does a child come to know what is safe or unsafe, right or wrong, normal or abnormal? How does a young woman learn the difference between real love and a desire for sexual pleasure stimulated by abusive childhood sexual experiences? Careening through life, Eagle wonders how to trust others and, most importantly, herself. As a mature woman struggling to understand and live with her past, she remains earnest in her pursuit of clarity, compassion, and trust.Trade Review2020 CIBA Journey Book Awards Finalist2020 Colorado Independent Publishing Association (CIPA), 3rd Place in Memoir2019 Foreword INDIES Finalist in Adult Nonfiction: Autobiography & Memoir2019 Colorado Author's League Finalist in Adult NonFiction: Historical, Autobiographical“Being Mean excavates the caverns of the author’s childhood trauma to expose how its tendrils tormented her long after the horrible fact. Eagle’s account is harrowing in its honesty. Traumatic as the shaping circumstances of her childhood are, she never uses them as a shield. Such frank analyses are refreshing and may provide empathetic assurance to other victims who are still in the gauntlet of recovery.”—Foreword Reviews“A deftly written work of commendable honesty, exceptional candor, and impressive personal courage, Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival is a riveting, honest, and ultimately life-healing memoir with a highly relevant underlying message given today's #MeToo climate that is slowly bringing to justice even the most powerful and wealthy of pedophiles and sexual predators.”—Midwest Book Review“Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival is a painful story with a message of hope for readers; a message that tells readers that they can heal and that they can reclaim their lives after sexual abuse. It's a captivating story that makes a powerful case for the millions who suffer the pain of sexual abuse in silence.”—Readers' Favorite“Not since Alice Sebold’s Lucky have I read a memoir that leans into the soul-shattering experience of early sexual trauma with such courage and intelligence. Patricia Eagle elevates the difficulty of her subject matter through her clear prose and a cohesive narrative that weaves recurring themes of betrayal, devotion, the secrets that keep us, and the redemptive wisdom of love. I wept real tears at the complexity and beauty of the healing. This book will rinse you clean.”—Kathleen Adams, LPC, author of Journal to the Self and Expressive Writing: Foundations of Practice and founder/director of Center for Journal Therapy Inc “Patricia Eagle’s extraordinary memoir, Being Mean, is a testament to the power of the human spirit to prevail over childhood sexual trauma, heal itself in the act of truth-telling, and emerge from the depths of confusion with survivor’s wisdom and an open, generous heart. Eagle’s humor, candor, and determination to bring compassionate understanding to the darkest of crimes separates this book from the majority of abuse memoirs; so does her spirited refusal to sacrifice sexual freedom and pleasure to the fire of childhood incest. Daring, beautifully written, and filled with unforgettable moments, Being Mean is one brave woman’s story of soul retrieval and finding her way through the mysteries of love. It deserves a place on your bookshelf next to Kathryn Harrison’s The Kiss, Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, and Bass-Davis’s The Courage to Heal. I could not recommend it more highly.” —Mark Matousek, author of The Boy He Left Behind and When You’re Falling, Dive“When I first began speaking of my sexual abuse, I looked for just one woman who had relived her experiences and her feelings, and who had survived and thrived. I became that woman whom I was looking for, and Patricia Eagle can now count as another.” —Marilyn Van Derbur, author of Miss America by Day“Being Mean is an incredible piece of writing, reconciling the most harmful aspects of the author's life to make a story she carries forward in strength and compassion. I appreciated how Patricia Eagle not only detailed her childhood experience but how that confusion/sexualization/trauma impacted the decades of her adult life. This is a teaching book that I hope gets to many therapists for understanding and to many survivors for validation.” —Christina Baldwin, author of Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story and The Seven Whispers: A Spiritual Practice for Times Like These

Read more less

Book SynopsisIrene Sardanis was born into a Greek family in the Bronx in the 1940s in which fear and peril hovered. Her mother had come to New York for an arranged marriage. Her father drank, gambled, and enjoyed other women—and then, when Irene was eleven, abandoned her family altogether. Faced with their mother’s violent outbursts in the wake of this betrayal, Irene’s older siblings found a way out, but Irene was trapped, hostage to her mother’s rage and despair. When she finally escaped her mother as a young adult, she married a neighbor, also Greek, who controlled and dominated her just like her mother always had. But Irene wasn’t ready to let her story end there. With therapy, she eventually found the courage to leave her husband and pursue her own dreams. Out of the Bronx is her story of coming to terms with the mother and past that terrified and paralyzed her for far too long—and of how she went on to create a new life free of those fears.Trade Review2021 Firebird Book Awards First Place Winner in Inspiration2020 New York City Big Book Awards Winner in Inspiration2020 Independent Press Awards Winner in Inspirational“Out of the Bronx is the brave story of a young woman who wants to stay connected with her Greek roots while she tries to escape them. The reader will enjoy the lively prose and energy of Irene Sardanis as she brings alive her childhood and her family, and you’ll cheer her on as she discovers the life she wants to live.”—Linda Joy Myers, founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, author of Don’t Call Me Mother, Song of the Plains and The Power of Memoir“Out of the Bronx is the story of a young woman's struggle to escape and heal from the generational struggle of Greek immigrant parents. As an adult psychologist, she comes to understand her mother's story and to celebrate her own Greek culture. At the close of a beautifully detailed description of a Greek feast, she writes, 'I have filled my empty.' Her story is an important aid to readers who want to better understand the complicated difficulties faced by immigrants.”—Pat Schneider, founder, Amherst Writers & Artists, author of Writing Alone and With Others and How the Light Gets In“Are you from the Bronx? Have you visited? Neither? Regardless, you’re in luck, because Irene Sardanis transports you to this infamous New-York borough in an entirely engaging, revealing, and personal way. The daughter of two Greek-immigrant parents, Sardanis proclaims, 'My mother’s village was her extended family. At the (Greek) Festival, the Greeks are mine.' It is there that she 'fills her empty,' which is vast yet hidden until the publication of this deeply moving and painfully relatable memoir, Out of the Bronx.”—Valerie Haynes Perry, author of Write the Book You Want—Be Your Own Coach“Irene Sardanis writes with compulsion, ferocity, and immediacy of a wrongly imprisoned person, unexpectedly and surprisingly set free—which, of course, she is: a prisoner of time, place, family, gender, culture, religion and self.”—Mark Greenside, author of I Saw a Man Hit His Wife and I'll Never Be French (no matter what I do)“Out of the Bronx is a spellbinding tale of how to survive the worst kind of childhood and thrive in later life. Author Irene Sardanis, the daughter of Greek immigrants, takes readers on her healing journey, one that began with a violent mother and often absent, alcoholic father. Richly compassionate, Ms. Sardanis eventually built a career as a therapist and found the love of her life. Along the way, she discovered a hard-won surprise, compassion for her mother and father. The memoir is a haunting reminder of the era when few persons thought of intervening when a young person was abused, and before anyone heard of child protective services. Whether one's parents arrived from another place recently or long ago, Out of the Bronx, offers considerable inspiration for all readers.”—Kristine Mietzner, Contributor, Your Life is a Trip“Irene Sardanis's writing is as spunky as she is, and we cheer for her as she negotiates her way from being an abused child to a teenager who tries to outwit her mother to an adult who survived two abusive marriages, got her doctorate in psychology, worked as a therapist, and found love. Her insight, understanding, and humor are there in her memoir for the reader to experience. This book could be depressing. Instead, it's an inspiration.”—Karen Lee Pliskin, PhD, anthropologist, author of Silent Boundaries“Irene Sardanis’s coming of age story is filled with drama, resilience, and hope. She follows the arc from her hardscrabble childhood in a Bronx tenement to breaking away from her difficult family to finding her own voice and becoming a therapist and writer. Her memoir, told with grace, honesty and wit, will encourage and inspire others.”—Elizabeth Fishel, author of Getting to 30“How we come through our childhood is a mystery. Even with dynamics laid out plainly as Irene Sardanis does in her memoir, her voice is so utterly clear you can see her world. She says, 'I knew I could never tell anyone.' Yet she bravely tells us her story. Read Out of the Bronx and you may be honored with a glimpse of the mystery.”—Clive Matson, author of Hello, Paradise. Paradise, Goodbye. and Let the Crazy Child Write“The memoir, Out of the Bronx tells with Immediacy and grace, how Irene Sardanis not only survived her family of birth, she successfully navigated the choppy waters that followed to grow into a self-assured writer.”—Audrey Ward, author of Hidden Biscuits“Out of the Bronx is a powerful, emotional recounting of Sardanis’s journey, and the unvarnished truth of her experience—which is at once so familiar and yet so uniquely her own—is moving.”—The National Herald

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn September 2007, Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. In All the Silent Spaces, Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event—a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced. As new memories surfaced after the attack, it took everything in Ristaino’s power to not let catastrophe unravel the precarious threads holding everything together. Moving between the greater issues associated with violence and the personal voyage of overcoming grief, All the Silent Spaces is about letting go of what you think you know in order to rebuild.Trade Review2020 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards: Finalist in Non-Fiction – Social Issues 2020 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Finalist: Non-Fiction: Social Issues 2020 Living Now Book Awards Gold Winner in Inspirational Memoir (Female) 2020 International Book Awards, Finalist in Social Change 2020 IndieReader Discovery Awards Winner in Women's Issues 2019 Best Book Awards Finalist in Social Change 2019 Best Book Awards Finalist in Women's Issues “ . . . a swirling examination of many of the elements that can factor into violence in America, but it’s also a portrait of one woman’s experiences with such violence, and how she managed to find a way to avoid being destroyed by it . . . An insightful, openhearted memoir about brutality in many forms.” —Kirkus Reviews “All the Silent Spaces: A Memoir, by Christine Ristaino, is a deep and lyrical memoir about how a vicious assault affected all aspects of the author’s life, and how she found strength to not just endure tragedy but transcend it. This book touches on dynamics one might expect–fear, survival, mistrust, recovery—but also on themes one might not—like race, religion, poverty, and politics.” —IndieReader

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom the 1950s to the 1980s, the New Zealand government took more than 100,000 children from experiences of strife, neglect, poverty or family violence and placed them under state care in residential facilities. In homes like Epuni and Kingslea, Kohitere and Allendale, the state took over as parent. The state failed. Within institutions, children faced abysmal conditions, limited education and social isolation. They endured physical, sexual and psychological violence, as well as secure cells, knock-out sedatives and electro-convulsive therapy. This book tells the story of 105 New Zealanders who experienced this mass institutionalisation. Informed by thousands of pages of Child Welfare accounts, letters, health reports, legal statements as well as interviews, Stanley tells the children's story: growing up in homes characterised by violence and neglect; removal into the State's 'care' network; daily life in the institutions; violence and punishment; and the legacy of this treatment for victims today. This book contains personal, first-hand accounts, allowing its subjects to speak for themselves.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThrough the story of Tamara, an abused Native American child, North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan describes the plight of many children living on reservationsand offers hope for the future. On a winter morning in 1990, U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota picked up the Bismarck Tribune. On the front page, a small Native American girl gazed into the distance, shedding a tear. The headline: Foster home children beatenand nobody''s helping. Dorgan, who had been working with American Indian tribes to secure resources, was upset. He flew to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to meet with five-year-old Tamara who had suffered a horrible beating at a foster home. He visited with Tamara and her grandfather and they became friends. Then Tamara disappeared. And he would search for her for decades until they finally found each other again. This book is her story, from childhood to the present, but it''s also the story of a people and a nation.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis"When my parents signed me up to Trojan Swimming Club, they had no idea of the evil behind Gibney's interest in me. As a thirteen-year-old, who knew nothing but kindness and love, I was ill-equipped to understand what was happening as he insidiously dominated my thinking and isolated me from anyone who might come between us. The process of entrapment was quick, and in full view of my family and team-mates I became a prisoner - bullied, manipulated and abused, unnoticed by those close to me. So complete was Gibney's control of me that not only could I not see a way out, it didn't even occur to me to look for one."At age thirteen, Trish Kearney's idyllic childhood was abruptly ended when her swimming coach - the internationally recognised George Gibney - began abusing her. Six years later, the Seoul Olympics firmly within her sights, she sacrificed a promising swimming career to walk free of her abuser.In her memoir, she describes how suppressed memories of those difficult years resurfaced after the birth of her first child, and the momentous journey set in train when a letter arrived from former team-mate Gary O'Toole, opening the Pandora's box on the abuse - leading to a failed court case and Gibney's ultimate exposure in the press as a rampant, controlling paedophile. Above Water is a survivor's story, of coming up for air after decades of burying trauma, and of learning to breathe again. It shines a light into dark places just as it casts its beam outwards, signalling the healing power of love, family and one woman's indomitable spirit.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Childhood should be free of violence, and victims of childhood maltreatment should be entitled to participate as expert informants in research about these experiences. Placing children and adult survivors at the heart of research efforts on child maltreatment is critical to effective response and prevention measures in fighting this form of violence. Embedded in the European context, Participatory Research on Child Maltreatment with Children and Adult Survivors presents a mosaic of contexts, theories, and methods relating to children’s and adult survivors’ participation in research about their adverse experiences. Contributors demonstrate how research can mobilize children and adult survivors to become agents in constructing and disseminating reliable, evidence-based knowledge about child maltreatment. Enriching ongoing debates about ethical concerns and challenges of participatory research in the field of child maltreatment, this contribution to Emerald Studies in Child Centred Practice highlights the advantages that participation as a human right and as a valued endeavour of scientific knowledge accumulation can bring to communities of researchers and helping professionals. The authors of this book are members of a designated working group of the pan-European network on Multisectoral Responses to Child Abuse and Neglect in Europe (Euro-CAN), supported by the European Cooperation on Science Technology (COST Action 19106), that promote children’s and child abuse survivors’ participation in research on violence.Table of ContentsForeword; Andreas Jud Introduction; Maria Roth, Ravit Alfandari, and Gemma Crous Chapter 1. Theoretical Grounding On Children’s Participation In Research On Maltreatment; Fiona Morrison Chapter 2. Children’s Participation In Research On Violence Affecting Them: A European Overview; Ravit Alfandari, Gemma Crous, and Nuria Fuentes-Peláez Chapter 3. The Right Of Children To Be Heard In Participatory Research On Violence; Athanasios Ntinapogias and George Nikolaidis Chapter 4. The Ethics Of Research With Children On Violence Re-Examined; Maria Roth Chapter 5. Cultural Factors Affecting The Participation In Research Of Children Victims Of Child Abuse And Neglect: The Case Of Turkey; Nilüfer Koçtürk, Sinem Cankardaş, Zeynep Sofuoğlu, and Betül Ulukol Chapter 6. “Play&Talk: The Magic Cards Of Foster Care”: A Research Tool To Interview Children And Young People In Foster Care; Nuria Fuentes-Peláez, Gemma Crous, and Judit Rabassa Chapter 7. Inclusion Of Children With Refugee Backgrounds In Research; Laura Korhonen and Erica Mattelin Chapter 8. Digital Technology-Based Research With Young People In The Context Of Hungarian Child Protection; Andrea Rácz and Dorottya Sik Chapter 9. Using Community Art To Encourage Children To Participate In Discussions About Violence; Hervör Alma Árnadóttir and Martha María Einarsdóttir Chapter 10. Left-Behind Adolescent Co-Researchers’ Participation In Studying Transnational Families; Éva László, Alina Bărbuță, Viorela Ducu, Áron Telegdi-Csetri, and Maria Roth Chapter 11. Change The Mood! Participatory Action Research With Children Affected By Community Deprivation; Natália Fernandes and Maria João Pereira Chapter 12. The Inclusion Of Children In Public Inquiries On Violence, Health, And Welfare: The Example Of Sweden; Laura Korhonen, Linnéa Lindholm, Maria Lindersson, and Ann-Charlotte Münger Chapter 13. Survivors Of Child Maltreatment: A Historical Review Of Global Health And Research; Pia Rockhold Chapter 14. Art And Action: What Participatory Action Research With Adult Survivors Must Address; Alex Stern and Jolka Nathanaili-Penotet Chapter 15. Self-Organized Research By Child Sexual Abuse Survivors: Developing A New Research Approach; Thomas Schlingmann Chapter 16. Giving Voice To The Survivors Of Childhood Institutional Abuse; Petra Filistrucchi, Patrizia Bucarelli, Giuseppe Aversa, and Donata Bianchi

Read more less

Book SynopsisA story of courage, perseverance and a refusal to give in. Three Wise Monkeys is the autobiography of a man who endured a terrible,violent and abusive start in life which led to a string of criminal convictions and misery. His middle years were beset by continuing problems including gang rape and a complete lack of support from his dysfunctional family. Alcoholism and illness also play their part but you sense through it all the sheer will and determination to fight against the odds. His reckless, compulsive behaviour sees him spending time in young offenders’ institutions and sometimes prison. It is a harsh lesson, but he learns to take the brickbats and the beatings before giving them back in return. He has a running battle with the media to clear his name of unfounded, personal allegations and almost daily harassment from family, so-called friends and neighbours. Many would have cracked under the pressure but the author persists, come what may. Sometimes he reaches his lowest ebb when things conspire against him. There is light at the end of the tunnel, but it takes him 23 years to shake off the shackles thanks largely to his wife, his ‘diamond’. He emerges a better individual although not fully at p

Read more less

Book SynopsisNo politician pandered to the media's appetite for personality more than Liberal MP Cyril Smith. Instantly recognisable for his colossal build, Smith was a larger-than-life character in a world of dull grey men. Yet 'Big Cyril' was anything but the roly-poly gentle giant of popular imagination.In November 2012, Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk outed Smith in Parliament as a serial child abuser. Now, in this devastating expose, he describes how Smith used his profile to groom and sexually abuse young boys, frequently in institutions he had helped to establish. His victims, often troubled boys from broken homes, had no voice against their attacker and, though rumours abounded, Smith's appalling crimes went unnoticed by the public and unpunished by the authorities.Smile for the Camera is not just about a terrible abuse of power. It's about those who knew that abuse was taking place but looked the other way, making the corridors of Westminster a safe haven for paedophiles like Cyril Smith.This updated edition of the book that sparked a criminal investigation brings shocking new material to light, asking urgent questions of those who allowed Smith to prey on young children for decades without questionTrade ReviewMr Danczuk's courageous book has opened up a stinking can of worms and it seems clear that only a proper judicial investigation can uncover the whole unsavoury truth. Daily Mail This is an extremely good book, and a brave one, too. Rod Liddle, Sunday Times A brave, disturbing, in many ways brilliant book. Daniel Finkelstein, The Times In this compelling book... Danczuk revealed how the authorities systematically covered up sickening sexual exploitation of boys by Sir Cyril over decades. Daily Express

Read more less

Book SynopsisChild sexual abuse (CSA) is believed to affect one in eight children worldwide (UNICEF, 2020). This authoritative book challenges widely-held problematic beliefs about CSA and discusses societal responses and attitudes to survivors. It brings together multidisciplinary expertise from key researchers and practitioners around the world to better understand CSA in Black and racially minoritised communities and to provide recommendations for improving legal, policy and practical responses. It provides an international overview, covering theory, practice and policy and action-oriented research to determine how countries can individually and collectively work to prevent CSA with specific, vulnerable groups and in general. It also examines how intersectional marginalisation affects experiences of, and responses to, CSA. This essential body of work is thoroughly researched and includes first hand testimony which will deepen the understanding of students, academics, policy-makers and professionals including social workers, service staff and activists working at the frontline.Chapter 7 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Foreword Professor Claudia Bernard 1. Introduction Aisha K. Gill and Hannah Begum 2. Epistemic injustice: Racially marginalised adult survivors of child sexual abuse Geetanjali Gangoli and Marianne Hester 3. Understanding the experiences of British South Asian male survivors of child sexual abuse Hannah Begum and Aisha K. Gill 4. Maternal Mimesis: The impact of intersectional abuse on African-Caribbean British maternal responses to ‘tellings’ of child sexual abuse by daughters Joanne Wilson 5. Preserving what for whom?’ Female victim/survivor perspectives on the silence behind child sexual abuse in Britain’s South Asian communities Vanisha Jassal 6. Survivors speak up: Improving police responses to sexual abuse cases in Black and racially minoritised communities Aisha K. Gill and Yasmin Khan 7. Institutional responses to child sexual abuse in ethnic minority communities Rachel Hurcombe, Theresa Redmond, Holly Rodger and Sophia King 8. Addressing harmful sexual behaviours among children and young people: Definitional and regulatory tensions Elizabeth Agnew and Anne-Marie McAlinden 9. He didn’t want any of that: Considerations in the study and theorization of Black boys’ sexual victimization in the United States Tommy Curry 10. Child sexual abuse in Latinx populations in the United States: An examination of cultural influences Maureen C. Kenny, Claire Helpingstine and Maheshi Pathirana 11. Truth, trauma and healing: Stories of Aboriginal survivors of child sexual abuse in out-of-home care Carlina Black, Muriel Bamblett and Margarita Frederico 12. The blurred line: Balancing the treatment of personality disorders, personal trauma, and cultural trauma among individuals who have sexually offended Michael P. Lasher 13. “Pussy power”? Reflecting on research practice with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander men who have offended sexually Jodi Death and Kelly Richards

Read more less

Book SynopsisBestselling author and foster carer Casey Watson shares the shocking true story of Tyler, an abused eleven-year-old who, after stabbing his step-mother, had nowhere else to go.Knowing a little of Tyler's past his biological mother, a heroin addict, died of an overdose when he was three Casey feels bound to do her best for him. It isn't easy; Tyler continuously lashes out, even trying to attack Casey herself. Investigation into his earlier childhood reveals why: forced to watch his mother die he was found emaciated and traumatised two days later, then delivered to a father who didn't want him and a step-mother who beat him.With the horrific events of his past now vividly affecting the course of his present, Casey and her husband Mike are determined to veer him away from the violence and drugs they fear he will come to depend on.Heartbreaking and profoundly moving, Nowhere to Go tells the story of a child forsaken by his family but fought for by his foster carers.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThere was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island, just a month after Shannon’s disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year.Trade Review“Kolker is a careful writer and researcher...[he paints] a far more nuanced picture of each young woman than any screaming headline could.” — Miami Herald “Through extensive interviews with the victims’ families and friends, Kolker creates compassionate portraits of the murdered young women, and uncovers the forces that drove them from their respective home towns into risky, but lucrative, careers as prostitutes in a digital age.” — New Yorker “Captivating.” — Boston Globe “Robert Kolker unflinchingly probes the 21st-century innovations that facilitated these crimes… ...An important examination of the socioeconomic and cultural forces that can shape a woman’s entry into prostitution.” — Kirkus Reviews “Beautifully and provocatively written.... [Lost Girls] will make all but the hardest-hearted empathetic. Add a baffling whodunit that remains, as the subtitle indicates, unsolved, and you have a captivating true crime narrative that’s sure to win new converts and please longtime fans of the genre.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Robert Kolker’s LOST GIRLS is reportage at the highest level; it’s miss-your-bedtime storytelling… It’s a wonder.” — Darin Strauss, author of Half A Life “Lost Girls is a marvelous book, taking a complicated, trying story and making it compulsively readable. Kolker is an outstanding reporter and a sensitive narrator who does justice to a horrible tragedy by paying exactly the kind of attention that no one else did, or would.” — Nick Reding, author of Methland “The absence of the killer is the making of this book, a constraint that allows it to become extraordinary…humane and imaginative…[Kolker] shows the dented magnificence and universal sorrow within ordinary lives, and makes you realize how much more they are worth.” — Laura Miller, Salon “Kolker indulges in zero preaching and very little sociology; his is the lens of a classic police reporter. And often in Lost Girls, the facts are eloquent in themselves.” — Newsday “Some true crime books are exploitative…others grasp at serious literature. Robert Kolker’s new book falls into the latter category.” — New York Observer “Readers expecting an SVU-style true-crime story will be disappointed. But through detailed profiles of the victims themselves, Kolker has written a more provocative book—a book that is as much about class and economic pressures as it is about sex work and murder.” — The Daily Beast “Meticulously reported and beautifully written, Robert Kolker’s Lost Girls is a haunting and powerful crime story that gives voice to those who can no longer be heard. It is a story that you will not be able to forget.” — David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon “A gothic whodunit for the Internet age…nearly unputdownable…[LOST GIRLS is] a horrific, cautionary tale that makes for a very different kind of beach read…Kolker expertly chronicles the sad cycle of poor, uneducated white women faced with lots of kids and few resources.” — Mimi Swartz, New York Times Book Review “Rich, tragic...monumental...true-crime reporting at its best.” — Washington Post “Engrossing...a car-crash of a book...By humanizing the women, Mr. Kolker has produced a subtle indictment of the sex trade.” — Nina Burleigh, New York Observer “A heart-chilling non-fiction tour-de-force...terrifying and intensely reported.” — Complex Magazine “A rare gem of a book that not only tells a riveting story but illuminates something about a slice of America and gets into a lot of very deep issues. Its really great on every front.” — Slate, DoubleX “Riveting and often heartbreaking...a lashing critique of how society, and the police, let these young women down.” — New York Times “Immensely evocative...we are left with is a visceral understanding of the lives of the victims and why they should have mattered more.” — New York Daily News “Terrific...vivid and moving...Grade: A-” — Entertainment Weekly “So masterful.” — Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me , via Twitter “By learning the intimate details of the women’s lives, seeing them as humans rather than victims, we see our similarities…Lost Girls is possibly the realest, fullest picture of what is happening with sex work in the US right now.” — The Guardian (UK) “Kolker does not hold back in addressing the fact that there was dysfunction in these women’s lives. They were drug addicts and teenage mothers and petty criminals. They suffered. But he can also see that within those circumstances they had moments of strength and self-assurance. ” — Barnes & Noble Review “Lost Girls is partly unsolved mystery...[partly]the intimate story of the five women… [and] a case study in the profound impact of the Internet, and particularly Craigslist, on the business of buying and selling sex.” — National Post (Canada)

Read more less