A Beautiful, Terrible Thing

A Beautiful, Terrible Thing
Author: Jen Waite
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0735216509

A woman discovers her marriage is built on an illusion in this harrowing and ultimately inspiring memoir. “Be forewarned: You won’t sleep until you finish the last page.”—Caroline Leavitt, author of Cruel Beautiful World One night. One email. Two realities... Before: Jen Waite has met the partner of her dreams. A handsome, loving man who becomes part of her family, evolving into her husband, her best friend, and the father of her infant daughter. After: A disturbing email sparks suspicion, leading to an investigation of who this man really is and what was really happening in their marriage. In alternating Before and After chapters, Waite obsessively analyzes her relationship, trying to find a single moment form the past five years that isn't part of the long con of lies and manipulation. Instead, she finds more lies, infidelity, and betrayal than she could have imagined. With the pacing and twists of a psychological thriller, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing looks at how a fairy tale can become a nightmare and what happens when “it could never happen to me” actually does.

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die

I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die
Author: Sarah J. Robinson
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2021-05-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0593193539

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.

Nowhere to Hide: Trapped, abused and sold for sex

Nowhere to Hide: Trapped, abused and sold for sex
Author: Hannah Morgan
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2021-02-04
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0008418608

A shocking true story that reveals how one woman was tormented to the very depths of despair by her husband through coercive control and continual physical and sexual abuse.

Silent Child

Silent Child
Author: Toni Maguire
Publisher: John Blake
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2020-08-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1789463068

Unlike people with carefree previous lives, I packed away my past. There are some memories labelled 'Look at', and others 'Leave well alone'... Emily Smith was held in a prison of fear for ten years. When she was four, her father left and a new man was brought into her life. He loved her, he kept telling her so, but the emotional and physical abuse she suffered at his hands were a daily nightmare. Until one day, after he crept into her bedroom, her life became unbearable. Emily found she was different in another way as her autism became more noticeable and punishments for her 'abnormal' behaviour more severe. Astonishingly, she managed to escape her home of hell, where she was abused right in front of her mother. Emily determinedly gained a university place and emerged triumphant with a new life and family in Ireland, desperate to treat her daughter, so similar to her, to a different life. Heartbreakingly true, Silent Child is a testament to Emily's strength as she sheds light on rampant abuse still happening today. Powerful and shocking, sharing her story means she finally has a voice to say: enough.

An African Abroad

An African Abroad
Author: Aurora Mizutani
Publisher: Aurora Mizutani
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2023-03-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Aurora Mizutani has written a book that questions everything we have ever thought about. “An African Abroad” is the memoir of one of Moshood Adisa Olabisi Ajala's children. Olabisi Ajala was a renowned journalist, traveller, and actor. The book briefly recollects the lifelong achievements of the author's father and highlights his interactions with his young daughter. “An African Abroad" is a collection of anecdotes that speaks to the reader about international adventures, friendships, relationships, trials, and tribulations. The first-person account addresses complex subjects, including teenage escapades, parental trauma, and redemption through political and historical self-re-education. The book invites the reader to adopt a realistic perspective (instead of burying their heads in the sand). It reveals her theory about the deep-rooted and biggest secret in the entertainment industry and shines a light on the prevailing darkness surrounding child exploitation and grooming. This fictionalised journal is written in a cynical yet uplifting instructive manner, where the narrator undergoes a state of censure to achieve her goal of contemplation, self-analysis and ultimately autonomy from socially imposed scruples. Spread into eleven chapters, “An African Abroad” transports the reader on a journey that depicts the narrator's character and growth.

The Boy in the Cellar

The Boy in the Cellar
Author: Stephen Smith
Publisher: John Blake
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2019-12-26
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1789461766

Stephen Smith is the boy who did not exist. Born out of wedlock in the early 1960s, Steve's parents hid him away from the world by locking him in the cellar...for thirteen years. Starved and beaten, the little boy's world was a darkened room that measured just eight feet by ten with a single makeshift bed, bare light bulb, and a solitary table. Steve would spend his days conjuring up an imaginary world full of monsters he would draw to try and block out the physical and mental torture inflicted on him by his brutal father. Apart from a few admissions to hospital as a result of his 'imprisonment', Steve remained in the coal cellar of the family home where he was deprived of daylight, his childhood, school, and human contact until he'd reached his teenage years. Eventually, he escaped only to fall prey to the instigators of two of the worst cases of institutional abuse in the UK at Aston Hall hospital and St. William's Catholic School. The Boy in the Cellar is a horrifying true story of torture and cruelty, that reveals a human's full capacity to fight for survival and search out happiness and hope.

Behind Closed Doors

Behind Closed Doors
Author: B.A. Paris
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2016-08-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250121000

"First published in Great Britain by MIRA/Harlequin, HarperCollins UK"--Title page verso.

The Forgotten Child

The Forgotten Child
Author: Richard Gallear
Publisher: HarperElement
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2019-03-21
Genre: Abandoned children
ISBN: 9780008320768

Based on a true story, The Forgotten Child is a heart-breaking memoir of an abandoned newborn baby left to die, his tempestuous upbringing, and how he came through the other side.