I’m a big fan of fiction that fills a need. While recovering from a broken pelvis, I wrote a book for my animal/adventure-loving fifth-grader. A year later, while in treatment for ovarian cancer, I wrote a series for my other daughter and teens/tweens who love musical theater but can’t find books set in that world. When the Harvey Weinstein nightmare erupted, I was horrified at the parallels in how naysayers treat victims of both incest and workplace harassment. I decided the world needed a novel exploring that, and taking readers into the minds of survivors. (Thankfully, I wasn’t recovering from an injury or disease while writing that one!)
The younger the victim, the more egregious the act seems. This true story is a riveting read. Dixon repressed childhood incest memories until, ironically, she became a nurse helping others with similar pasts. The book is an insightful look at how hidden pain manifests itself in our current lives regardless of what walls the mind has erected to protect us. Woven into the memoir is helpful advice for survivors, counselors, lawyers, and others working with abuse victims. I was mesmerized.
This story breaks new frontiers in what we know about repressed memories. It is a riveting account of horrific and humorous events of living in the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse. It is based on the author's personal experience and that of hundreds of patients she treated as a mental health professional. She weaves prevention recommendations into the book to help prevent child abuse.
You would be forgiven for finding this memoir creepy and cringe-worthy. It is also bold and brave in its brash, brutally honest depiction of a sexual relationship between a woman in her twenties and her father. (I refuse to call it “love”.) The story is a raw example of how predators push through the permeable walls between right and wrong for their own gain. You may not agree with the young woman’s choices and you may not feel satisfied in the end, but you will accept her anguish and enter a world you hate to know exists.
From the bestselling author of THE BINDING CHAIR, a searing memoir of a four-year affair between the author and her father.
'My father takes my face in his hands. He tips it up and kisses my closed eyes, my throat. I feel his fingers in the hair at the nape of my neck. I feel his hot breath on my eyelids.'
Kathryn Harrison's parents married aged 17 but were forced apart by disapproving parents within a year. By which time their only child, Kathryn, had been born. She was not to see her father again until she was ten. Instantly,…
This hugely entertaining and thought-provoking novel tackles sexual harassment and cyberbullying in a fast-paced revenge tale. Three women in the early stages of successful careers seek to avenge a friend who fell victim to a celebrity’s advances only to be harassed a second time by multitudes of strangers online. We see fault and questionable behavior from the victim, the perpetrators, and the friends. As the book's description says, it's a fine line between justice and revenge. And, I might add, that line differs for every individual.
"Simply superb!" —MW Craven, bestselling author of The Puppet Show and The Curator "On point topical and beautifully written. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★" —Jo Spain, international bestselling author of The Confession
There's a fine line between innocence and guilt. An even finer line between justice and revenge.
Shy and sensible Laura prefers the company of her books to the real world – let alone that cesspit online. But when her best friend Emily becomes the victim of horrific cyberbullying, she makes it her all-engulfing mission to track down the worst culprits using her finely-tuned data skills.
If you haven’t yet read this modern classic, consider it time. Incest is not technically the focus but it threads throughout the narrative as one of many violent acts impacting the lives of the characters as they struggle to survive and attain some degree of identity and peace. As with any trauma, the abuse’s repercussions are manifested in expected and unexpected ways. You’ll draw a deep breath and sigh in relief when the main character Celie propels herself beyond her past to attain a new level of freedom and happiness.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Alice Walker's iconic modern classic is now a Penguin Book.
A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug…
First published in 1988, this self-help book remains a crucial guide for survivors of incest and childhood sexual abuse. The first important thing it does is tell survivors they are not alone; this remains critical even though social media has relieved some of the isolation victims feel. Second, it gives shape to the demon through heartbreaking first-hand accounts. Third, it offers a pathway to healing, laying out practical steps and writing exercises suitable for anyone. The book has a few critics but as someone who benefitted personally from the wisdom and caring in these pages, I say, “Ignore them.”
Come to terms with your past while moving powerfully into the future
The Courage to Heal is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and a map of the healing journey to every woman who was sexually abused as a child—and to those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible.
Weaving together personal experience with professional knowledge, the authors provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, and support throughout the healing process. Readers will feel recognized and encouraged by hundreds of moving first-person stories drawn from interviews and the authors' extensive…
Horseshoes and Hand Grenades explores the impact of “mild” sexual abuse on a young woman’s choices in a coming-of-age story, with a parallel story about her friend experiencing workplace harassment in the pre-MeToo era. I wrote this particular story—which many, many individuals can relate to—to show that even “lesser abuse” impacts people. Their pain is valid and their healing triumphant.
I also wanted to take non-victims into the minds of survivors so they might finally stop asking stupid questions like: Was it partly your fault? Why are you speaking up? Was it such a big deal? No one ever asks those questions of someone who has been robbed or had their life threatened!
I always want to be where I am not. This was why I read sci-fi and fantasy as a child. This was why I left the country of my birth and became a professional nomad. This is why I am spellbound by mountains I will never climb and oceans I will never dive into. Imagination can take you everywhere. It took me to the academy, where speculative literature became my scholarly field, and to the publishing world, where I am now getting ready for the launch of my eighth novel. When you are at home nowhere, you are at home everywhere–including on the summits of impossible mountains.
In Svetlana's country, it’s a felony to break a mirror. Mirrors are conduits of the Voice, the deity worshiped by all who follow Light. The Voice protects humans of MotherLand from the dangers that beset them on all sides: an invading army of wolf-headed men on their borders and the infectious, ever-evolving, zombie-like Enemy that plagues them at home. When Svetlana meets Andrei, a traumatized and amnesiac soldier from another war, she embarks on a harrowing journey of adventure and self-discovery that leads her to question everything she was taught to…
A voice through Svetlana's mirror guides her beloved MotherLand from behind its' electric tower. The war with Wulfstan is not going as well as Sveta and her parents hope, but Sveta trusts the Voice. When her best friend Tattie goes missing, and Sveta saves Andrei, a soldier in summer uniform in the dead of winter, it takes Sveta through a crucible of Light, doubt, and back to the altar of true belief. Girl of Light unravels Sveta's beloved MotherLand in a war-torn adventure through monsters, missing eyes and broken mirrors.
