"Gut-wrenching and absorbing...in the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle."-BOOKLIST
"a story of redemption and forgiveness."-MARY BETH KEANE, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Impressive...Readers will find themselves recalibrating their judgments about villains and victims"--BOOKPAGE (STARRED REVIEW)
For 50 years, Stephanie Plymale kept her past a fiercely guarded secret. No one outside her immediate family would have guessed that her childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: a mentally ill mother who was in and out of jails and psych wards throughout Stephanie's formative years, neglect, hunger, poverty, homelessness, truancy, foster homes, a harrowing lack of medical care, and worse.
Stephanie, in turn, knew very little about the past of her mother, from whom she remained estranged during most of her adult life. All this changed with a...