Emotional Memoirs

ALL THEY WANTED WAS LOVE, SAFETY AND SANITY! BUT WHERE COULD THEY GO? Jennifer and her two grown children had suffered physical and emotional abuse for over a decade. She was finally getting away from her abusive husband by divorcing him. But when he drained all the money from their bank account, leaving them with nothing to live on, what was she going to do? Sometimes a well-timed rescue comes from a total stranger. This story is the parable of the Good Samaritan lived out. Diane Ehrlich tells the heart-wrenching true account of a family who escapes domestic violence and the extraordinary ...

In this remarkable dual memoir, film legend Martin Sheen and accomplished actor/filmmaker Emilio Estevez recount their lives as father and son. In alternating chapters—and in voices that are as eloquent as they are different—they narrate stories spanning more than 50 years of family history, and reflect on their journeys into two different kinds of faith.

Izzy Blizzard’s frank memoir covers six decades of her tumultuous life, beginning when she was nine years old. Here, in the preface to her book, Izzy warns readers they may not like her: “My mother told me the only way to truly cleanse one’s dirty laundry is to bring it out into the sunshine and air it. I’m giving that a try, airing the worst of my own dirty laundry. “For example, few things are less attractive than suicide or extra-marital affairs. I've attempted the former and have been involved in the latter—multiple times—so I'm well-acquainted with how people react to a ...

At six months old, Kenneth is struck by polio, leaving him physically marked and setting the tone for a life shaped by struggle. Abandoned by his mother at the hospital, he is taken in by Pearlie Mae, a blind but fearsome relative who raises him with tough love and relentless discipline. By three, Kenneth experiences haunting visions of celestial beings that feel like a divine or infernal claim on his soul, adding a spiritual weight to his physical trials. Life with Pearlie Mae is harsh; she demands survival skills rather than offering comfort. Kenneth learns early to navigate a world that ...

One misty evening, Jennings Michael Burch's mother, too sick to care for him, left her eight-year-old son at an orphanage with the words, "I'll be right back." She wasn't.... Shuttled through a bleak series of foster homes, orphanages, and institutions, Jennings never remained in any of them long enough to make a friend. Instead, he clung to a tattered stuffed animal named Doggie, his sole source of comfort in a frightening world. Here, in his own words, Jennings Michael Burch reveals the abuse and neglect he experienced during his lost childhood.

This profoundly moving memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of Sandra Uwiringiyimana, a girl from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who tells the tale of how she survived a massacre, immigrated to America, and overcame her trauma through art and activism. Sandra was just 10 years old when she found herself with a gun pointed at her head. She had watched as rebels gunned down her mother and six-year-old sister in a refugee camp.

Bats can hear shapes, plants can eat light, and bees can dance maps. When his life took him to a painfully dark place, the poet behind The CryptoNaturalist, Jarod K. Anderson, found comfort and redemption in these facts and the shift in perspective that comes from paying a new kind of attention to nature. Something in the Woods Loves You tells the story of the darkest stretch of a young person’s life, and how deliberate and meditative encounters with plants and animals helped him see the light at every turn.

In this poignant and deeply moving memoir, Sigal Magen reflects on her life as a second-generation descendant of Holocaust survivors. Through vivid recollections and heartfelt introspection, she weaves together stories of childhood fears, inherited trauma, and the resilience that shaped her into a beacon of hope and connection. From climbing a playground slide to carrying the weight of generational fears, Sigal shares how her father’s unspoken pain and her grandfather’s symbolic train journeys shaped her view of the world. Her journey takes her from moments of personal struggle to a ...

Don’t Hug Your Mother takes you on a dramatic and compelling journey through Fintan and Gareth’s tough childhood and alienation from their mother following their parents’ marriage break-up. This heartbreaking but ultimately uplifting memoir describes how they grew up to confront evil, follow their hearts and meet their mother again after almost two decades of separation.

What if your life could bloom again, from the ruins of heartbreak and failure? What if you have the power within you to rewrite your entire life? In this stunning true story of breakdown and breakthrough, Freddie Zeringue shares a year that changed everything. On the verge of divorce and financial collapse, he found himself stripped of answers—but not of choice. What followed was a series of uncanny events, soul-wrenching reckonings, and one impossible miracle: a rose. More than a memoir, The Year of the Rose is a guidepost for anyone standing at the edge of despair and futility. With ...

Poor Man Always Dreams a Better Tomorrow...but Is the Life Worth the Cost? The oldest daughter who failed to weigh the cost of pleasing her much-loved father… The oldest son burdened with his father's expectations… The story of ego, pride, anger, revenge, guilt… With the powerful and raw memoir, The Guilt is Alive, author Hemalatha Gnanasekar gives an unconventional and unique examination of her life in an impoverished Indian family and explores her family's fateful decision to send the oldest son to Jamaica to work. Strap yourself in for a gripping, suspenseful, and bittersweet ...

Writer and therapist Sahaj Kaur Kohli grew up knowing exactly what it means to straddle multiple cultures at once. Like many children of immigrants, she has often found herself plagued by questions: Can I establish my own values and embrace where I come from? Is prioritizing my mental health really rejecting my culture? How do I set boundaries and care for myself when family and community mean everything? Even after becoming a therapist herself, she saw those same gaps in the mental health world, leading her to wonder, like so many children of immigrants: what about us?

In The Art of Asking, Palmer expands upon her popular TED talk to reveal how ordinary people, those of us without thousands of Twitter followers and adoring fans, can use her principles in our own lives to "let people help".

Amy Butcher was an accomplished college professor, mentor, and writer, but in her own home, she was embarrassed and emotionally burdened by an increasingly abusive relationship. Exhausted and terrified of the ways her partner’s behavior could escalate, Amy reached out to Instagram celebrity Joy “Mothertrucker” Wiebe. Joy was a 50-year-old wife and mother and the nation’s only female ice road trucker, a woman who maneuvered big rigs through the Alaskan wilderness along the deadliest road in America.

A husband who lost his wife, but still found reasons to hope. Eighteen Weeks and A Fight for Life by Steve Donald is a heartfelt memoir recounting the battle that he and his wife Gloria faced against her life-threatening illness. After Gloria fell and broke her shoulder in February 2021, a cascade of health issues followed, culminating in a diagnosis of bowel cancer. Despite surgeries and chemotherapy, the cancer spread, leading Gloria to undergo a major operation in March 2022, followed by another life-saving surgery in Basingstoke in 2023. Throughout this harrowing personal journey, Steve...

Pain changes people, but it doesn’t have to break them. In Bruised, But Not Broken: My Mess Is A Message, Hydiea shares her raw and unfiltered journey of survival, heartbreak, and resilience. From a childhood shaped by foster care, family betrayal, and homelessness to the struggles of navigating toxic relationships, motherhood, and self-discovery, this memoir lays everything bare. With gripping honesty, Hydiea confronts the wounds left by those who were supposed to love her, the lessons she learned the hard way, and the moments that nearly broke her. But this is not just a story of pain ...

While much has been written about the minds and methods of the medical professionals who save our lives, precious little has been said about their emotions. Physicians are assumed to be objective, rational beings, easily able to detach as they guide patients and families through some of life’s most challenging moments. But understanding doctors’ emotional responses to the life-and-death dramas of everyday practice can make all the difference on giving and getting the best medical care.

For much of the twentieth century, a series of terrible events—abuse, both physical and psychological, and even deaths—took places inside orphanages. The survivors have been trying to tell their astonishing stories for a long time, but disbelief, secrecy, and trauma have kept them from breaking through. For ten years, Christine Kenneally has been on a quest to uncover the harrowing truth.

Do you want to conquer life's challenges? Jesus wants that for you too! We usually can’t prevent what happens to us, but we can change our reaction to it just by following some simple biblical principles. Are you plagued by anxiety? So was the apostle Paul. Are you gripped with fear? So was the prophet Elijah. Are you riddled with doubt? So was John the Baptist. Do you want to learn to live with hope, rather than despair, and optimism rather than dread? I invite you to join me on this journey. We’ll face some of life’s challenges head on, including: Anxiety Fear Doubt Rejection ...

Lisa Carlson once embraced a life of passion and adventure. Her days were filled with helping others, exploring far-off places, and savoring the freedom she held dear. Yet, deep down, she longed for a love that would make her feel complete. When she met Dameon, she was certain she had found that missing piece. But her dream of a perfect life unraveled into a chilling nightmare. Soon after their wedding, Dameon revealed a darker side—one that trapped Lisa in a rigid religious cult and an abusive, suffocating marriage. When she became pregnant with their second child, his threats to harm ...