What My Bones Know Audiobook By Stephanie Foo cover art

What My Bones Know

A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

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What My Bones Know

By: Stephanie Foo
Narrated by: Stephanie Foo
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About this listen

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER •

A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life

“Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal.”—Lori Gottlieb,
New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, NPR, Mashable, She Reads, Publishers Weekly

By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.

Both of Foo’s parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she’d moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.

In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it.

Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

©2022 Stephanie Foo (P)2022 Random House Audio
Biographies & Memoirs Memoir Essentials Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders Psychology Mental Health Inspiring Heartfelt Thought-Provoking Native Spirituality Trauma Memoir
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Critic reviews

“Absorbing . . . a reckoning, and Foo approaches it with candor and rigor . . . profoundly affecting.”The New York Times

“Foo’s happy ending is nothing short of deliverance—rich and joyful and full of care the child was denied. . . . Possibility still glows around the edges of her sight.”USA Today

“An unflinching reminder of the hidden struggles many face, told with the keen eye of a researcher and the brutality of a documentarian.”—NPR

Featured Article: Best of the Year—The 15 Best Bios and Memoirs of 2022


There are few stories more compelling or more intimately told than those soul-baring memoirs that seek not just to recount the experiences of one's own life, but to draw some greater commentary on the big existential questions. What does it mean to be human? What is our purpose in being here? How much of who we are is purely self-determined? Exceptional in both their prose and narration, these listens represent a few of the year's best memoirs.

What listeners say about What My Bones Know

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Wonderful storyteller

This very evocative memoir gives a glimpse into the lives of those living with CPTSD, and their journey toward healing. Stephanie Foo is a beautiful writer with the ability to draw you into her life. Whether or not you have struggled with childhood trauma, this book is a must read for everyone because the reality is many suffer in silence. Thank you Stephanie for your bravery and courage to produce this piece of gold.

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I couldn't stop listening

I would recommend this book to everyone. Stephanie Foo's story is inspirational and has so much insight into CPTSD. I had never even heard of that until this book.

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Horrifyingly relatable and accurate, helpful

Healing isn't easy and emotionally it was hard to get through this book but it's so worthwhile. It was relatable and well written read that more than made me feel seen: it helped me learn more about my own journey in a way that honored and acknowledged my experience as a first generation Filipino person.

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Best Trauma Book Ever

I have read dozens of books about PTSD/CPTSD and teach about both. Foo's story really captures exactly how I have personally felt and heard, from others, what they have experienced. I feel heard, seen, validated and not alone. Mostly, I feel hopeful. Foo is so vunerable and honest and let's us see her truth unabashedly. I would love to sit with her, just sit and know that another has traveled some if the same roads. I also learned a great deal and took away resources for further "work". I feel sane and peaceful. So grateful.

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Breathtaking

Life changing. Stephanie Foo brings hope to the darkness of trauma with her breathtaking narrative. Informative, deeply personal, yet also approachable with her down to earth tone of writing. Worth reading more than once- it’s that good.

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WOW!

What a tremendously, well written, well narrated book. I honestly did not think this could be as good as it was. As I listen to the stories of your childhood I yelled out loud in my car on my way to work of how awful your childhood was. And then I thought of friends who could really benefit from listening to this book as I believe they have complex PTSD. I have recommended this around because it is so interesting. Thank you for sharing your story.

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Badass Novel

Stephanie Foo has crafted a superior book containing great data. Perfect performance of her own memoir.

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Thank you for this beautiful and moving book!

I’m beyond grateful that I found this book. I can’t begin to express how helpful it has been for me. I laughed, I cried and cried and I related to so, so many of the experiences and feelings expressed in this book. I am crying as I write this review!! This book just made me feel SO much. I was diagnosed with CPTSD several years ago and have been on a very long journey toward healing but have never been able to find a story or even a resource that I identified with quite like this. I’ve always felt broken and unfixable. The cruelty of CPTSD is that it is often dismissed or misdiagnosed. It is a fairly new diagnosis that many practitioners are not adequately equipped to treat. The honesty in this book has allowed me to feel like there may one day be peace and healing in my life too. The impacts of generational trauma are real and can’t be over emphasized. It takes such courage to accept the things one needs to change within themselves. Stephanie is beyond brave to bare her pain and share her journey of healing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing and sharing your story. You are a true hero!!

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This book helped me to better understand my own journey.

After years of living in an abusive relationship and growing up in a home where we didn’t feel in public, this book was a gift. It shed light on the cycles of trauma and helped me understand the grace necessary to forgive myself and let go of the fear and shame.
We have been told we will never get over our trauma but we will get through it. The book articulates hope and the process of healing.
Well written and wonderful presentation.

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Exceptional

I throughly enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure as it's a depressing subject , but I found it pertains to me as well, even though I don't suffer from chronic PTSD, I gained such knowledge about myself and have grown as a person. This book was amazing.

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