by Karen Palmer
First published 2025
Karen Palmer opens her memoir with four words: "Once upon a time, I disappeared." In 1989, Palmer and her new husband abandoned their jobs, withdrew her two daughters from school, and drove away in a cash-purchased car. Their trunk held everything they owned: clothes, toys, bedding, basic dishes, cookware, and their remaining money. They were fleeing Palmer's dangerous ex-husband in what she calls DIY witness protection. Palmer examines her entrapment, her escape, and the challenges of building a life around false identity. She explores the boundaries between wanting and fearing, being victim and perpetrator, imprisonment and liberty. Palmer investigates the impossible choices women face when all available options carry harm. The book considers disappearance, betrayal, and hidden violence.
Genres: domestic-fiction, memoir, biography-memoir, psychological-thriller, true-crime
Vibes: harrowing, intimate, introspective, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, survival-against-odds, unreliable-narrator
Period: 1989
256 pages · Hardcover · Algonquin Books
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence