Download or read book Stolen Innocence written by Erin Merryn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eleven-year-old Erin Merryn's life was transformed on the night she was sexually abused by her cousin, someone she loved and trusted. As the abuse continued, and as she was forced to see her abuser over and over again in social situations, she struggled with self-doubt, panic attacks, nightmares and the weight of whether or not to tell her terrible secret. It wasn't until a traumatic series of events showed her the cost of silence that she chose to speak out-in the process destroying both her family and the last of her innocence. Through her personal diary, written during the years of her abuse, Erin Merryn shares her journey through pain and confusion to inner strength and, ultimately, forgiveness. Raw, powerful and unflinchingly honest, Stolen Innocence is the inspiring story of one girl's struggle to become a woman, and a bright light on the pain and devastation of abuse. Stolen Innocence is written with conviction and clarity. [Erin Merryn] doesn't hold back, and I respect her honesty and openness...By the end of the book, I thought I was reading passages from a much older adult than a high school senior. Erin has grown into a strong, wise, intelligent, perceptive, spiritual, caring adult." —Susan Reedquist, The Children's Advocacy Center

Download or read book Innocence Lost a Childhood Stolen written by Philip Sherman Mygatt and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2018-12-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I met Miriam Kabliski Cohen quite by accident, and for me it was a life-changing event. My ninety-four-year-old widowed mother had recently moved into an assisted living facility in Venice, Florida, after my step-father died in 2009, and Miriam was her next-door neighbor. One day when I was visiting my mother, Miriam or Mira - as her friends and family called her - stopped by to visit. My first impression of her was of a small, white-haired lady, who walked with a slight stoop and had a foreign accent that I couldn't quite place. She appeared to be in her late seventies, and what surprised me the most as we started talking, was that she was quite computer literate. She had her own active Facebook page, Twitter account and kept in touch with her large family through e-mails. After Mira had left the apartment, I asked my mother to tell me more about her. She told me that Mira was Polish and had been sent to Auschwitz during WWII, but that's all she knew. Since I was quite interested in WWII history, especially The Holocaust, I asked my mother to call me the next time Mira stopped by, and I would like to hear more about her life. A couple of weeks later, my mother arranged a meeting in her apartment. I didn't know what to expect as I wasn't sure if Mira wanted to talk about her childhood experiences. Our meeting started out pleasantly, but soon it became apparent that whatever had happened many years ago was something that she didn't want to talk about. I changed the subject because I certainly didn't want to make her uncomfortable by asking her questions about her past. She asked me where I worked, and I told her I was an author and that I had written several books, including one about WWII. The more we talked, the more she opened up, until she told me that she wanted to go back to her apartment and get something to share with me. Within minutes, she returned with a well-worn leather satchel. Opening it, she started pulling out scraps of paper until there was quite a large pile on my mother's coffee table. When I asked her what were on the scraps of paper, she replied, "My story." As I picked them up and examined them, I noticed they were obviously written in a young person's handwriting, and were in a foreign language; Polish I correctly assumed. As I was going through the scraps, she reached into the satchel, pulled out a well-worn rag doll, and handed it to me. "Meet Alinka," she said. Alinka's clothes were tattered and dirty, her bisque head was crackled and chipped, and one of her arms was badly repaired. But, when Mira reached over, took her back, and hugged her tightly to her chest, I got a brief glimpse of an eight-year-old Polish girl sitting across from me. _____ Holocaust, Jewish, WWII, Polish, Auschwitz

Download or read book Stolen Innocence written by Elissa Wall and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Both creepy…and quite moving.” —New York Times Book Review “Wall’s story couldn’t be more timely.” —People Stolen Innocence is the gripping New York Times bestselling memoir of Elissa Wall, the courageous former member of Utah’s infamous FLDS polygamist sect whose powerful courtroom testimony helped convict controversial sect leader Warren Jeffs in September 2007. At once shocking, heartbreaking, and inspiring, Wall’s story of subjugation and survival exposes the darkness at the root of this rebel offshoot of the Mormon faith.

Download or read book The Fall of Innocence written by Jenny Torres Sanchez and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lovely Bones meets Celeste Ng for teens in this gorgeous, haunting, and tragic novel that examines the crippling--and far-reaching--effects of one person's trauma on her family, her community, and herself. For the past eight years, sixteen-year-old Emilia DeJesus has done her best to move on from the traumatic attack she suffered in the woods behind her elementary school. She's forced down the memories--the feeling of the twigs cracking beneath her, choking on her own blood, unable to scream. Most of all, she's tried to forget about Jeremy Lance, the boy responsible, the boy who caused her such pain. Emilia believes that the crows who watched over her that day, who helped her survive, are still on her side, encouraging her to live fully. And with the love and support of her mother, brother, and her caring boyfriend, Emilia is doing just that. But when a startling discovery about her attacker's identity comes to light, and the memories of that day break through the mental box in which she'd shut them away, Emilia is forced to confront her new reality and make sense of shifting truths about her past, her family, and herself. A compulsively-readable tragedy that reminds us of the fragility of human nature. Praise for The Fall of Innocence * "Sanchez deftly shows the long-lasting impact of the assault. . . . An intimate and tragic look at how traumatic incidents affect individuals, their families, and others around them." --Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW * "Sanchez writes with stunning detail, showcasing the beauty that can be found in small moments, in family interactions, in nature, and in seemingly everyday objects. . . and illustrates how a trauma like Emilia's has widespread effects." --School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW * "It is hard to imagine a more beautifully told, more moving, or more authentic story of one family’s journey through unbearable pain." --VOYA, STARRED REVIEW "Beautifully written but ineffably sad, Emilia's story is a case study of trauma and its aftermath." --BCCB "Emilia's inner world both captivates and devastates." --Publishers Weekly "Internal and contemplative, [this novel's] haunting quality lingers." --Booklist

Download or read book Living for Today written by Erin Merryn and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silence Broken and Stigmas Shattered -- Help for Incest Survivors Is Here Fans of Erin Merryn's heart-wrenching debut memoir Stolen Innocence were left wondering at the end what would become of an emotionally fragile Erin after her confrontation with the reality of being a child of incest and molestation. In Living for Today, readers find that Erin cultivated the strength to face her abuser and eventually facilitated and experienced relief from years of emotional restlessness, while also igniting the beginnings of a new fearless journey. Living for Today chronicles that journey, which began with the unearthing of private shame and releasing of ugly memories and letting go of guilt and becoming the mouthpiece of millions of her generation. Through her compelling narrative, readers will learn how they, too, can: Learn to look forward, in spite of an abusive past Block off any impending guilt from outing an abuser Deal with interfamily strife as a result of incest and molestation Shake off the "victim" tag and replace it with one that reads "survivor" Living for Today is Merryn's contribution to an audience that has felt victimized, ashamed, isolated, and silenced by its abusers and offers a roadmap for self-discovery, forgiveness, and empowerment to help readers rid the stigma they have attached to their trauma and live fully and fearlessly for today.

Download or read book Collected Works in Verse and Prose written by William Butler Yeats and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Stolen Beauty written by A. L. Madden and published by . This book was released on 2017-06-02 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At a young age, author A. L. Madden was exposed to the kind of inconceivable treatment no one, let alone a defenseless child, should endure. A brutal stepfather with a murky and painful history of his own found himself in an environment in which he continued the cycle of trauma, committing unspeakable acts of sexual and emotional abuse against Madden and her siblings. Meanwhile, her struggling, overworked mother didn't see the pain and damage being inflicted on her children. Madden felt ashamed, hurt, angry, and, most of all, unable to talk--to anyone--about what was happening. She felt as though it was her fault. The only route to dealing with the anguish was to submerge herself in a distrustful, insecure, depressed state. As have many survivors of abuse, Madden felt abandoned, unable to see who she really was, unable to hold on to any glimmer of hope. Only through a long soul-searching process that involved a combination of therapy, study, prayer, and the eventual strong faith in the power of her own inner strength and spirit--the innocence and beauty she had once possessed as a child--was Madden fi nally able to reach a place of understanding and peace. Stolen Beauty tells a poignant story for anyone who seeks guidance through his or her own recovery from abuse or for anyone who works to help survivors and abusers alike.

Download or read book Wasted written by Mark Johnson and published by . This book was released on 2009-05-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a young child, Mark Johnson and his siblings would turn up to school battered and bruised by their alcoholic father, but no one ever investigated their home life. Mark just slipped through the cracks and kept on falling for years. He was stealing at the age of six, was drinking by the age of eight, and took his first hit of heroin when he was just eleven. A sensitive and intelligent boy, art college beckoned, but he ended up in prison instead. With searing honesty, Wasted documents Mark's descent into the very depths of addiction and criminality. Hooked on heroin and crack, homeless on the streets of London with a price on his head, no one--least of all Mark--believed he would ever survive, never mind recover. And yet he somehow found the strength to pull through, and now runs his own thriving tree surgery business, employing and helping other recovering addicts. A shocking and inspirational story.

Download or read book The Story of the Lost Child written by Elena Ferrante and published by Text Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Story of the Lost Child is the long-awaited fourth volume in the Neapolitan novels (My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay). The quartet traces the friendship between Elena and Lila, from their childhood in a poor neighbourhood in Naples, to their thirties, when both women are mothers but each has chosen a different path. Their lives are still inextricably linked, for better or worse, especially when it comes to the drama of a lost child. Elena Ferrante was born in Naples. She is the author of seven novels: The Days of Abandonment, Troubling Love, The Lost Daughter, and the quartet of Neapolitan novels: My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child. Frantugmalia, a selection of interviews, letters and occasional writings by Ferrante, will be published in 2016. She is one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors. Ann Goldstein has translated all of Elena Ferrante’s work. She is an editor at the New Yorker and a recipient of the PEN Renato Poggioli Translation Prize. Praise for Ferrante and the Neapolitan novels ‘[Ferrante’s] charting of the rivalries and sheer inscrutability of female friendship is raw. This is high stakes, subversive literature.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Ferrante is an expert above all at the rhythm of plotting...Whether it’s work, family, friends or sex–and Ferrante, perhaps thanks to her anonymity as an author, is blisteringly good on bad sex–our greatest mistakes in life aren’t isolated acts; we rehearse them over and over until we get them as badly wrong as we can.’ Independent ‘Great novels are intelligent far beyond the powers of any character or writer or individual reader, as are great friendships, in their way. These wonderful books sit at the heart of that mystery, with the warmth and power of both.’ Harper’s ‘Elena Ferrante is one of the great novelists of our time. Her voice is passionate, her view sweeping and her gaze basilisk...In these bold, gorgeous, relentless novels, Ferrante traces the deep connections between the political and the domestic. This is a new version of the way we live now—one we need, one told brilliantly, by a woman.’ New York Times Sunday Book Review ‘When I read [the Neapolitan novels] I find that I never want to stop. I feel vexed by the obstacles—my job, or acquaintances on the subway—that threaten to keep me apart from the books. I mourn separations (a year until the next one—how?). I am propelled by a ravenous will to keep going.’ New Yorker ‘The best thing I’ve read this year, far and away...She puts most other writing at the moment in the shade. She’s marvellous.’ Richard Flanagan ‘The Neapolitan series stands as a testament to the ability of great literature to challenge, flummox, enrage and excite as it entertains.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘The depth of perception Ms. Ferrante shows about her character’s conflicts and psychological states is astonishing...Her novels ring so true and are written with such empathy that they sound confessional.’ Wall Street Journal ‘The older you get, the harder it is to recapture the intoxicating sense of discovery that comes when you first read George Eliot, Nabokov, Tolstoy or Colette. But this year it came again when I read Elena Ferrante’s remarkable Neapolitan novels.’ Jane Shilling, New Statesman ‘There is nothing remotely tiring or trying about the experience of reading the Neapolitan novels, which I, and a great many others, now rank among our greatest book-related pleasures...it is writing that holds honesty dear.’ Weekend Australian ‘Dickens gave working people a voice. Ferrante, whoever she might be, presents a new paradigm for being female in the world...Ferrante’s great literary creations, Lenu and Lila, have the same emotional weight as Anne in Persuasion, Jo in Little Women, Maggie in The Mill on the Floss, Jane in Jane Eyre.’ Helen Elliott in the Monthly ‘This stunning conclusion further solidifies the Neapolitan novels as Ferrante’s masterpiece and guarantees that this reclusive author will remain far from obscure for years to come.’ Publishers Weekly ‘The Neapolitan novels are smart, thoughtful, serious literature. At the same time, they are violent, suspenseful soap operas populated with a vivid cast of scheming characters...Ferrante’s novels are deeply personal and intimate, getting to the very heart of what it means to be a woman, a friend, a daughter, a mother.’ Debrief Daily ‘Shattering and enthralling, intimate and vicious...The Neapolitan Novels are the kind of books that swallow me whole. As soon as I pick one up, I don’t want to breathe or move lest I break the spell...The Neapolitan Novels are among the most important in my reading life. I can’t recommend them highly enough.’ Readings ‘Ferrante captures the complexities of women, friendship and motherhood in ways that make your heart soar and ache in equal measures. If you haven’t already, treat yourself to this series.’ ELLE Australia ‘[Ferrante’s] Neapolitan novels contain real life – recognisable anxiety, joy, love and heartbreak. This is an incredibly difficult feat to achieve in the first place, let alone sustain, over four books. We will be talking about Elena and Lila for years to come.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘There's a bright, sinewy humanness to Ferrante’s writing that is so alive it's alarming...The Story of the Lost Child is a full emotional experience, and a fitting end to a huge, arresting series.’ New Zealand Listener ‘I was one of the many who wept and wondered over Elena Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child. I plan to re-read the entire series soon.’ Favourite Feminist Reads from 2016, Feminist Writers Festival

Download or read book Lost Innocence written by Susan Lewis and published by Random House. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Alicia Carlyle returns to the home of her childhood after the tragic death of her husband, she is hoping to put the past behind her. But first she must come face to face with the woman who nearly destroyed her marriage and tore her family in two - her sister-in-law, Sabrina. Their enmity runs deep, but Alicia is determined to make a fresh start for herself and her two children, Nathan and Darcie, and to heal her fractured relationship with her beloved brother. However, just when it looks as if they might have a chance at a brighter future, Sabrina's fifteen-year-old daughter, Annabelle, accuses seventeen-year-old Nathan of a crime he insists he didn't commit. And once more the two families are locked in a battle that is fraught with mistrust, betrayal and lies - a battle that threatens to destroy them all...

Download or read book Lost Innocence Stolen Childhoods written by Thérèse Blanchet and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With reference to Bangladesh.

Download or read book Stolen Children written by Peg Kehret and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A suspenseful thriller about a young babysitter who uses her wits and a big dose of courage as she attempts to save herself and the toddler in her care from kidnappers.

Download or read book Verity written by Colleen Hoover and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whose truth is the lie? Stay up all night reading the sensational psychological thriller that has readers obsessed, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Too Late and It Ends With Us. #1 New York Times Bestseller · USA Today Bestseller · Globe and Mail Bestseller · Publishers Weekly Bestseller Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her.

Download or read book The SEAL s Stolen Child written by Laura Marie Altom and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He's defended his country and upheld the code of the navy SEALs, but Garrett Solomon has never faced a mission quite like this. As teenagers, he and Eve Barnesworth were passionately in love. Eve's unplanned pregnancy only deepened his commitment to her. But Eve's powerful father, fearing a scandal, whisked her away. As far as Garrett and Eve knew, their baby had died—and with it, their love. Years later, the loss and betrayal still pain Garrett deeply. Then comes shocking news: the child is still alive. Determined to find their stolen son, Garrett and Eve join forces. Working together is strictly business…until it isn't. Because it seems their powerful attraction—like the child they once thought was gone forever—is still very much alive.

Download or read book Finding Lost written by Nancy Lafleur and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2017-09-22 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finding Lost is a powerful story of one Indigenous woman’s lifelong struggle to find who she is. She shares a story of childhood trauma; a story that is still only too common for many Indigenous women today. Walk into Nancy’s life, and share in her journey as she braids her childhood memories in the lives of five women struggling to survive. Meet the kind of women Nancy thinks she could have become had she not turned life in her favour. Meet Anna, a homeless woman who reveals Nancy’s past. Through Anna’s memories, glimpse the terrifying times Nancy witnessed beatings of her beloved grandmother by her alcoholic grandfather. Meet Wendy, and learn how a child’s Christmas came to a devastating end because of alcohol abuse. Share in Nancy’s healing journey as she picks up the traumatic pieces of her life and finds the spiritual healing and strength to move forward. Be inspired by how she draws on the strength of the many women she has seen as role models from her small community.

Download or read book Stolen Childhoods written by Shari Botwin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Demonstrates that reclaiming life in adulthood is possible for survivors of childhood abuse. Stolen Childhoods: Thriving After Abuse focuses on how survivors of childhood abuse can finally break their silence and begin the process of recovery by understanding the impact their abuse history has on their adulthood. Filled with real life client conversations, along with her own experiences as a patient, this work helps readers stop reliving past abuse and thrive in their recovery. It demonstrates the tremendous hope that can come from having a witness, and feeling heard and believed. Throughout the book, the reader witnesses how adult survivors of childhood abuse can use relationships with therapists, partners, or supportive family members to combat their feelings of shame and guilt. Botwin walks readers through ways survivors can develop trust with others and move through emotions of fear and grief. She offers examples of learning how to manage traumatic responses in situations that trigger flashbacks, feelings of unsafety, or fears of being unprotected. Offering actionable steps to healing throughout, Botwin helps readers on their journeys to reclaiming their right to live safe, happy, full lives.

Download or read book A Touch of Innocence written by Katherine Dunham and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1994-06 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An internationally known dancer, choreographer, and gifted anthropologist, Katherine Dunham was born to a black American tailor and a well-to-do French Canadian woman twenty years his senior. This book is Dunham's story of the chaos and conflict that entered her childhood after her mother's early death. In stark prose, she tells of growing up in both black and white households and of the divisions of race and class in Chicago that become the harsh realities of her young life. A riveting narrative of one girl's struggle to transcend the painful confusions of a family and culture in turmoil, Dunham's story is full of the clarity, candor, and intelligence that lifted her above her troubled beginnings. "A Touch of Innocence is an absorbing family chronicle written with a gift for physical detail sometimes too real for comfort. In quietly graphic prose the growing girl, the slightly older brother, the ambitious father and the kind stepmother are pictured in such human terms that when their lives get tied into harder and harder knots beyond their undoing, one can only continue to read helplessly as doom closes in upon the household."—Langston Hughes, New York Herald Tribune "A Touch of Innocence is one of the most extraordinary life stories I have ever read . . . . The content of this book is so heartbreaking that only the strongest artistic skills can keep it from leaking out into sobbing self-pity, but Katherine Dunham's art contains it, understands it and refuses to be overwhelmed by its terrors."—Elizabeth Janeway, New York Times "The first eighteen years of the famous dancer and choreographer's life are brought vividly to the reader in this first volume of her autobiography. She writes of what it is like to be a special, gifted young woman growing up in a racially mixed family in the American Middle West. A beautiful, touching and sometimes discomforting book."—Publishers Weekly "As writing it is honest, searing, graphic and touching, giving us a rather heartbreaking early view of the young American Negro who was later to make a name for herself as a dancer and choreographer."—Arthur Todd, Saturday Review