"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, a novel about the power of family to harm--and to heal. Within the walls of a tasteful, perfectly kept house in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, young Zane Bigelow feels like a prisoner of war. Strangers--and even Zane's own aunt across the lake--see his parents as a successful surgeon and his stylish wife, making appearances at their children's ballet recitals and baseball games. Zane and his...

"A new masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers about a family returning to their hometown--and to the dark past that haunts them still. Long ago, Nathan Graves lived in a house in the country with his abusive father--and has never told his family what happened in that house. Long ago, Maddie Graves was a little girl making dolls in her bedroom when she saw something she shouldn't--and is trying to remember...

"For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something-a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself. "You're...

"For many people, cutting ties with a toxic family member is a crucial step away from a legacy of dysfunction and toward healing and well-being. In Adult Survivors of Toxic Family Members, psychologist Sherrie Campbell offers readers effective strategies for setting strong boundaries after ending contact with a toxic family member and provides powerful tools to help them heal from shame, self-doubt, and stigma"-- Provided by publisher.

"On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born -- a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam -- and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between...

For readers of Room and The Glass Castle, an astonishing memoir of one woman's rise above an unimaginable childhood.
Maude Julien's parents were fanatics who believed it was their sacred duty to turn her into the ultimate survivor — raising her in isolation, tyrannizing her childhood and subjecting her to endless drills designed to "eliminate weakness." Maude learned to hold an electric fence for minutes without flinching,...

No 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...

Garnering media attention when she tries to incinerate her dead father, reclusive Sally Diamond, beginning to discover the horrors of her early childhood, steps into the world for the first time and soon finds her trust issues severely challenged by a sinister voice from her past she does not remember.

"When trauma occurs early in life, children do not develop the capacity to regulate their experience, to calm themselves down when they're upset, to soothe themselves, to interact in appropriate ways with other people, to learn from their behavior" Margaret Blaustein, PhD. The impact of abuse and neglect on children, on their behaviors, on their sense of self, and on their capacity to form attachments with new caregivers can pose challenges for foster...

"A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and--with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education--he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted...