Maley reached down deep into my heart and stirred an ache for young girls like her who were innocent and sweet believers of all the good in the world, only to be abused by men who take what they want without regard for the girl. My heart breaks for Maley and girls like her everywhere. The courage Maley shows us in NO LONGER THAT GIRL would inspire birds to take flight. Her writing is clear and compelling, hopeful and true. Once you begin the book, there is no choice but to read to the end to find a woman filled with love, strength and grace even though life has beaten her up. She seems never to lose her faith in God even as the men of this earth disappoint all of us with their selfish and self-serving behavior.
For fans of No Matter Our Wreckage, this memoir explores the emotional impact of sexual abuse and how this debut author not only faces it but recovers from the trauma. Stephanie Maley's life is beautiful. She has her husband of thirty years and two sons - all healthy and making their way in the world. Other than the unwelcome memories of the past that flash in her mind like blinding television ads, things couldn't get much better. But when COVID-19 comes to the United States in 2020, Stephanie is seized by a deep panic, certain that she is going to…
Written with a brave heart and unwavering courage, Leeb tells the story of her sacrificed childhood at the hands of her father and mother, who both betray her in different ways. Which is worse? Who can answer that? I can relate because my parents betrayed me in the exact same way. Family sexual abuse is a curse and a crime, and willful blindness to the acts being committed against a child is an out-and-out blasphemy. Recovering from wounds this deep takes a lifetime. Some people never recover. Leeb has done the hard work and now stands as a pillar in our world with wisdom and strength to share. Read this book for hope and if you’re suffering from such crimes, know that there are others who have recovered and who have mostly normal lives.
For readers of I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, a candid and heart-wrenching memoir about child abuse, family secrets, and the healing that begins once the truth is revealed and the past is confronted.
Andrea is four and a half the first time her father, David, gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is…
26 seconds starts as a tale by a big sister who lost her pilot-brother in an airline accident, but ends with inspiration and heartfelt passion about aviation safety, truth-telling, safety checks, and why the public should not accept the conclusion of any crash as merely “pilot error” without asking questions that reveal all of the underlying conditions that put that flight in danger. Learning that Boeing and Airbus prioritize money over safety wasn’t a huge surprise. After all, we live in a capitalist society. But that doesn’t mean we have to accept the answers given to the public after a crash that blame “pilot error” as the truth when, in fact, a variety of other reasons planes crash aren’t even listed. Thanks for writing your tragic story of losing your brother, so the rest of us can learn the whole truth. My father died in a small plane he was piloting when the tail came lose and the plane broke up in the air over the jungles of Mexico. I was only 19 years old when it happened, and incapable of wrangling the aviation industries of Mexico and the United States at the time to help find answers to what happened. 26 Seconds makes me realize how much family advocacy is needed to keep the airline industry safer and more honest.
Much as Eric Schollsberg's Fast Food Nation made people think about the way we eat, this provocative memoir and exposé challenges readers to question why, given its long history of cover-ups and systemic safety gaps, we continue to trust the aviation industry.
On a stormy late May morning in 2008, TACA Airlines Flight 390 crashes at one of the most dangerous airports in the world, Honduras's Toncontin International Airport. Five people die in the crash—among them Rossana D'Antonio's brother, pilot Cesare D'Antonio. Suspecting Cesare will be made a scapegoat for the accident, as so often happens to pilots, Rossana decides…
In the mid-1970s, after sailing to French Polynesia with her sisters and father, Leslie Nack returned to the US with her family. In Southern California, she began the integration process back into American life, which meant being tossed back and forth between an alcoholic, mentally ill mother and an abusive, overbearing father who took her to deliver sailboats, sent her on a wilderness survival course, and recovered a stolen boat for an insurance company in the Virgin Islands. During all of that, she and her sisters attempted to free their mentally ill mother from confinement. Life couldn’t be more unpredictable.
At nineteen, her larger-than-life father dies suddenly in a plane crash in Mexico. In the wake of his death, she descends into addiction—caught in a downward spiral, her only solace is her next fix. Ultimately, however, Leslie’s story is one of resilience: she chooses sobriety and happiness, builds a healthy marriage, and raises two children.
At its heart, Nineteen affirms that acquiring new skills and investing in oneself are essential to breaking free from the destructive lessons of childhood. Raw and intense but ultimately hopeful, this sequel to the popular memoir Fourteen tells the rest of Leslie’s turbulent—and incredible—story.
