First published 1995
Dorothy Allison faces the man who hurt her as a child. The author of Bastard Out of Carolina turns her unflinching gaze inward, examining the brutal emotions that have shaped her life. She explores how abuse echoes through time, how shame and anger interweave with love and survival. Allison writes with startling directness about confronting her past, refusing to soften the hard truths she has learned about family, violence, and resilience. The book includes photographs that anchor her memories in the physical world. This is a woman taking inventory of what she knows for certain about her own story, about the damage done and the strength found. Allison shows how a young girl becomes a woman who can speak her truth without flinching.
Genres: abuse, autobiography, contemporary, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, personal-growth
120 pages · Paperback · DUTTON. NY 1995
Content warnings: abuse, child-abuse