Battling mental illness and addiction, Katherine’s parents are ill-equipped to deal with the trials of raising a family. Their unhappy relationship implodes on Katherine’s last day of first grade, and the abuse and neglect characteristic of her childhood worsens as her family descends further into poverty. With her mother deep in the clutches of alcoholism, her father missing, and her two older brothers already in foster care, Katherine steps in to care for her younger sister, despite being a child herself.
When social services later intervenes, Katherine and her sister are placed in foster care in the countryside. Her new home and the stable and caring environment her foster mother provides are a far cry from the life she’s always known, yet Katherine’s struggles continue. As she approaches adulthood, reeling from her past and battling loneliness, life continues to beat her down with tough choices, staggering betrayals, and various assaults. For a few years, she’s able to cope by suppressing her memories and turning to self-harm and addiction. However, when she pawns her most cherished possession, she realizes that she’s following in her biological parents‘ footsteps, tumbling in a downward spiral of self-destruction. Is it too late for her to escape her family’s generational inertia?
Katherine’s story is one of crippling weakness and breathtaking strength, debilitating self-doubt and defiant determination, self-destruction and healing…and the discovery of what it actually means to be resilient.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
foreword by Rachael Brooks
courage to fly by Kathy Parker
introduction
ill-equipped
uncle tick
my sister’s keeper
predictability
and now for something completely different
the birth of a love affair
welcome to the mountain state
living a fairy tale
an exceptionally shitty week
unkept promises
shades of absence
elmer
whispers of change
car ride to the unknown
welcome to the farm
echoes from the past
gifts of solitude
before you have the chance
hatred and gratitude
like i wasn’t even there
rhoda’s favorite game
words and more words
firsts
love and friendship
becoming permanent
the ‚cool mom‘
alternative use for a common object
keeping the family together
tête-à-têtes
the summer of ’97
new housemates
friends and guys
a man is a man is a man
unwanted change
duped
hija gringa
surprises
unlovable
just another angsty teenager
becoming castration queen
over the edge
welcome to college
minnesota
til death do us part
never a home
decking
rubber bands and pipe cleaners
no blame game here
not crazy, not stupid, and not alone
resilient
acknowledgements
resources
about the author
by katherine turner
Über den Autor
Katherine Turner is an award-winning author, editor, and a life-long reader and writer. She grew up in foster care from the age of eight and is passionate about improving the world through literature, empathy, and understanding. In addition to writing books, Katherine blogs about mental health, trauma, and the need for compassion on her website www.kturnerwrites.com. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two children.
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