Trauma Memoir

From surviving an horrific dog attack as a toddler, to the tragic death of his father in a car accident, to the challenges of leaving the country of his birth and then finally to the very emotional divorce from his wife... this story has truth at its heart and purpose at its soul. Funny, tragic, and at times unbelievable, the story weaves its way from various towns in the regional Eastern Cape Province of South Africa to the cities of the Gold Coast, Sydney and Brisbane.

If Jenn had known her husband's family before they'd gotten married, there might never have been a wedding at all. Now she has to confront the reality that her new family holds ignorant—and, at times, racist—views, and that spending time around them triggers her ingrained trauma of growing up Black in the U.S. Why is it so hard for her to speak out against their prejudice? And, more importantly, what does it mean that her husband is silent in the face of all this?

In this reflective and science-informed memoir, nationally recognized child-advocacy leader Michael Piraino explores the profound moments, relationships, and insights that helped him navigate trauma and reshape his life’s purpose. Blending personal stories with the neuroscience of healing, he reveals how connection, meaning, and the brain’s capacity for change guide us toward resilience.

Riveting, honest, and raw, I Can Take It From Here recounts Lisa Forbes's harrowing journey into darkness—including a fourteen-year-long stint in a maximum-security prison—and her fierce resolve to understand the effects of the trauma she endured, to take personal responsibility for her actions, and to ensure that her history does not dictate her destiny.

From the world’s great concert halls to Los Angeles’s Skid Row, violinist Vijay Gupta’s searing memoir of prodigy, ambition, collapse, and renewal reveals how music is not just performance but also survival, a lifeline of human connection when everything else falls away—for readers of...

A teenage victim of a knife attack. A young girl who has nearly lost her leg in a boating accident. A survivor of a major terrorist attack at Westminster Bridge. Trauma surgeon Shehan Hettiaratchy has seen all these people on his operating table. In The Careful Surgeon he explains how it feels...

Have you struggled with obesity, poor self-image, weight-related health problems, or simply a feeling of inadequacy or meaninglessness? Are you tired of feeling left out of the active world around you? Have you ever contemplated weight-loss surgery? Kelley Gunter found herself dealing with all of these issues and many more as she weighed the decision to undergo bariatric surgery. Finding very few personal accounts from those who had gone through the same struggles, she decided to write about her experience in an effort to help others facing the same decision.

After only a year of marriage, Pavel Ythjall found himself staring into the eyes of a neurosurgeon who told him point-blank: “Your wife will be paralyzed, neck down, for life.” At the time, Pavel had a broken neck, too. His vertebrae were supported by a halo screwed directly into his skull. A tragic accident on the way to a Christmas party had changed their lives forever.

Trauma and Tenacity in Vietnam: A Surgeon's Story captures the defining period in the medical life of Capt. Sheldon Kushner, MD, while stationed in Vinh Long, Vietnam, from 1968-69. Through letters, reel-to-reel tape recordings, slides, and the personal interviews that recounted his experience, the story of a young surgeon is revealed.

Life of the Party Girl is a raw and inspiring debut memoir of a top wedding planner reflecting on the moments that define us as human beings, both the traumatic and fantastic.

From a young age, Layla Salek has experienced some people as colors—her mother brown, her father green, her husband rainbow. As she notes, sometimes, when words fail, colors speak. Chaos in Color is the captivating story of Layla’s journey from childhood to adulthood with a mother who suffered from untreated bipolar disorder. Each chapter paints a vivid, heartbreaking picture of the abuse, neglect, and trauma that she experienced as she grew up at the mercy of her mother’s bipolar swings, an incompetent mental health system, and the strangers with whom she was often left.

One Reason to Live embodies a visceral experience of living with psychiatric injury combined with the power of radical acceptance, sweetened by the healing quality of animal companionship and the joy of embracing self-love.

Trauma, tragedy, and loss are experiences that can be profoundly challenging and life-altering. They can shake us to our core, leaving us struggling to make sense of our world and find a way forward. Yet, in the face of unimaginable adversity, many people have found a way to survive and thrive.

David Giffen was once a defrocked priest. Having spent a decade as an Anglican cleric in Southwestern Ontario, David served in leadership in three urban social-justice focused appointments as a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada. David was deprived of ministry and terminated from his appointment as incumbent priest of his parish on December 12th, 2018. He was in his fourth month on medical leave. David was formally accused, investigated and found guilty of sexual misconduct, all while he was drugged out, melting down on social media.

On Sacred Ground offers an unexpectedly spiritual approach to the account of a controversial, officer-involved shooting as told by the retired, well-seasoned officer who pulled the trigger. Scott Haslar's memoir offers a look into race-related issues, the effects of posttraumatic stress, and the gritty realization that history in the United States has only been repeating itself. Get an inside, on-the-ground look from the eye of the hurricane as Haslar takes you through the tragic events that conspired in 1990.

Cyrus Jaffery has been on the move for as long as he can remember, rarely pausing to reflect. As a child, he was forced into exile and had to learn his own way, first in Pakistan and then the United States. After college, he was swept up in the whirlwind of marriage, starting a family, forming a business, and ceaselessly working to grow his personal and professional endeavors. In the process of writing this book, Cyrus realized that what keeps him moving is a hunger to make a difference, to be counted, to be part of something bigger than himself.

A gripping retelling of sexual abuse, adventures backpacking through India, a difficult marriage, tales from behind the prison fence, and the rebirth through doing hard things in beautiful places. The poetic nuances invite the listener to live inside an anguished mind as it thrashes from trauma to triumph, and how one woman used her pain as a source of strength and to become an ultramarathon runner.

Very few people know about the childhood trauma Kevin endured long ago in western New York. At first glance, he appears as an average engineer — with a loving wife, two amazing children, and a stable job. As Kevin digs deep into his memories, lingering doubts plague him as to whether a young girl he once knew survived the horrors — or fell to a tragic fate.

Let Her Fly traces the inspirational journey of Malala Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin, from a boy in Shangla to a man who broke with tradition and proves there are many faces of feminism. With humor and sincerity, Yousafzai describes his life before the Talibanization of Mingora, scenes of his...

In his unflinchingly honest memoir, Mitchell Raff candidly recounts his journey to overcome generational trauma and break free from decades of addiction. With raw vulnerability, he lays bare his destructive coping mechanisms and the far-reaching consequences they wrought on his life and on those around him.