Biography

by Ann Dowling

The reader experiences quarantine wards, iron lungs, and endless spinal taps not as historical abstractions, but as the bewildering daily life of a small child separated from her family for two full years. Along the way we encounter fascinating characters who all impact the little girl’s life as she struggles to recover. Written with honesty and heart, A Little Girl's Life offers an unforgettable glimpse into mid-century medicine, family perseverance, and the resilience of children during one of history's most challenging epidemics. Ann Dowling brings personal memories vividly to life for modern readers.

by J.J. Johnson

Her story hadn’t begun with her first breath; it anchored itself, deeply, within the continuous floods from the powerful storms that brewed long before our generations were ever imagined.   My mother, Jess, inherited trauma like a personal kind of family heirloom—rooted in red clay that cracked under extreme pressure, generations before her own body met its ultimate demise.   Life came for her time and time again, tearing violently at the delicate pieces of her soul, attempting to drag her innocence into the same cold abyss that swallowed so many daughters from our bloodline before her. It didn’t matter how far down the darkness tried to drag her, nor did it matter how persistent these shadows became; she always found her way back to us, wherever that may have been.   Her four children were not just a simple part of her world—we were the entirety of her everything. Every battle she fought and won was meant to shield us from growing the same thorns and bearing the same painful scars. She sacrificed her adult life striving to be the mother she knew we deserved, nurturing a sanctuary out of pure willpower and love.   Though she never got to hold most of her grandchildren, her love reaches through the veil, across the silent stretch of emptiness, quietly shaping their lives to this very day.   Distance, time, and even the grave are powerless against what she built through sheer courage and sacrifice. Her devotion has been passed across the generations that have followed, surrounding them still—a love so fierce, so absolute, that it remains just as deafening today as it ever was.   These are the chronicles of the floods she endured, the thorns she bore, and the wild roses that grew because her fierce heart refused to let the darkness prevail.

by J.J. Johnson

The Blood of My Blood Series is a three-tiered botanical Gothic memoir tracing generations of an inheritance blanketed in shadows filled with sorrow across shifting prairies and vast peaks. Between blood-soaked Oklahoman clay and the golden fields of Nebraska, come with me to unlock my mother's green trunk—examining the fragments of my family's trauma and secrecy, while discovering the maternal sacrifice that flows through my bloodline like silent, deadly currents.

by LeAnnHall

**FREE PREVIEW — MY BECOMING** Enjoy a complimentary introduction and brief excerpt from *My Becoming: One Life. No Dress Rehearsal.*, the published memoir by Le Ann Hall. The complete book is available for purchase through major book retailers.   **My Becoming: A Journey Through Love, Loss, Faith, and Rediscovery** What happens when life asks you to begin again, even when you believe you have nothing left to give? In *My Becoming*, author Le Ann Hall invites readers into an intimate journey of love, unimaginable loss, grief, resilience, and personal transformation. Through the heartbreak of losing her son and beloved family members, navigating complicated relationships, and rediscovering her own voice, Le Ann shares how faith, courage, and self-reflection helped her move forward—not by forgetting her past, but by learning to live beyond the pain. More than a memoir, *My Becoming* is an invitation to anyone who has experienced loss, questioned their purpose, or struggled to recognize the person they are becoming. It is a reminder that healing is not a destination, growth has no expiration date, and every chapter of life offers an opportunity to begin again. **Because becoming isn't about arriving. It's about continuing.** **Purchase the Complete Memoir** Thank you for reading this complimentary preview of *My Becoming: One Life. No Dress Rehearsal.* Continue the journey! The complete memoir by Le Ann Hall is available on Amazon in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover editions. **Find your copy here:**  Available Now — Find Your Copy **Amazon — Kindle, Paperback & Hardcover** <https://a.co/d/0bneYcgI> **Apple Books — eBook** <https://books.apple.com/us/book/my-becoming/id6815373676> **Barnes & Noble — eBook** <https://share.google/F5nwLy4ZuB4qUmgzU> **Google Play Books — eBook** <https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=QH8ZEgAAQBAJ>    About the Author Le Ann Hall is an author, Certified Life and Grief Coach, ordained minister, and advocate for emotional wellness, personal growth, and resilience. Drawing from her lived experiences, professional training, and commitment to helping others, she encourages individuals to navigate life's challenges, embrace healing, and discover new possibilities. Her message is simple yet powerful: **Life is not about having everything figured out. It is about having the courage to keep becoming.** *I am a work in progress.* — Le Ann Hall

by Sammie Settlemire

"I Can't Make This Up" is a humorous and heartfelt memoir about one woman's ongoing battle with bureaucracy, bad luck, and baffling human behavior. Through a series of unbelievable but true experiences, she recounts everything from scam emails and vehicle registration nightmares to canceled medications, a traffic stop involving "weed" that wasn't weed, and the loss of a cherished home. Along the way she reflects on modern society, common sense, education, family, disability, and the resilience required to keep moving forward when life seems determined to pile one absurd challenge after another in your path. Equal parts comedy, frustration, and perseverance, this collection of stories proves that sometimes the only way to survive life's chaos is to laugh at it. Back Cover Blurb If someone told you this stuff happened in a novel, you'd say it was too ridiculous to be believable. A vehicle registration renewal becomes a bureaucratic obstacle course. A WiFi adapter is mistaken for drug paraphernalia. Medications disappear without warning. Scam artists promise millions. A beloved fifth wheel home vanishes from reach. And somehow, through it all, there's still room for family, stubborn determination, and the occasional glimmer of hope. With sharp humor, unapologetic honesty, and plenty of "you've got to be kidding me" moments, I Can't Make This Up is a memoir about surviving disability, bureaucracy, bad decisions, and the endless parade of absurdities that make up everyday life. Because sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And sometimes a whole lot funnier.

by Ben James

James 1:14–15 (NKJV)\ &gt; *“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”* This is personal. It’s partly my story—but interwoven with another. Years ago, I became a cautionary tale. I became the man I had always despised. I didn’t plan to. I didn’t think it would ever be me. But it was. I was the one who gave in. I let the glance linger a little too long. I entertained conversations I should’ve shut down. I ignored the warnings I used to preach. And before I realized what was happening, I had stepped across a line I never thought I’d even get close to. For the price of a few moments of pleasure, I destroyed my marriage, my ministry, and a part of me I’ll never fully get back. So when I say what I’m about to say, I say it from a place of experience—not theory. About two months ago, I was asked to call my best friend because, “he might need a friend.” I didn’t know what was going on. When we talked, he was cryptic, guarded. All he said was, “I’m about where you were with Rebecca.” And my blood ran cold. This man prayed for me. He walked beside me during the darkest days of my life. He ministered to me when I couldn’t find the strength to pray. He helped hold up my arms when I was too weak to lift them. And now… it’s his turn. This afternoon, his oldest son—my godson—called me. We talked for nearly 20 minutes. And the rumors I’d hoped were just whispers? They weren’t rumors at all. My best friend—still married—is having a very public affair with someone who was once his wife’s closest friend. And the fallout? It's heartbreaking. His youngest son has moved back in with his mother. His oldest told him plainly: “You’re not welcome in my home until you get your spiritual house in order.” I told him I hated that it came to that. But I also told him I was proud of him. Because that’s not rebellion. That’s spiritual discernment. That’s a man protecting his wife, his children, and his home from a spirit that destroys everything it touches. And how did it all begin? Text messages. That’s what his son told me. It started with innocent texts… and turned sexual. Private messages that became secret meetings. A connection that started digitally, but birthed destruction in the physical world. Texts and social media are wonderful tools—but in the wrong hands, or the wrong heart, they’re just as dangerous as a loaded weapon in the hands of a sociopath. They feel safe. Harmless. Easy to explain. Easy to hide. But they’re not. They never are.

by Donald N Walker

*"What happens when a fifteen-year-old dishwasher discovers that professional kitchens and hard liquor both offer the same thing? An escape from the noise inside his head."*\ \ For Donald N. Walker, the answer is a thirty-five-year journey through some of America's finest kitchens and darkest corners—a story of extraordinary culinary achievement built on a foundation that was crumbling from the very first drink. At thirteen, Walker blacked out for the first time.\ At forty-eight, standing in a parking lot in Victor, Idaho, with everything he owned in a borrowed pickup truck, he'd been fired, laid off, or escorted out of more kitchens than he could count without a piece of paper. He had five DUI arrests across three states. He had slept in a homeless shelter while employed at one of the most exclusive resorts in the American West. And he was about to do the single best thing he would ever do. This is the instruction manual on how not to do it—and the hard-won wisdom of a man who finally learned to put down the shovel. **How NOT to Do It** weaves three powerful narratives into a singular, unforgettable memoir. First, it's a culinary coming-of-age story that takes readers from the chaos of an Ohio smorgasbord's dish pit to working alongside Certified Master Chefs at elite country clubs, from the pirate-ship energy of Florida's Mad Hatter restaurant to catering thousand-person events with Secret Service oversight. Walker apprenticed under some of America's most decorated chefs, learning mother sauces, classical technique, and the particular satisfaction of plating food that earns a nod from people who don't give easy praise. For anyone who has ever loved the controlled chaos of a professional kitchen, this is your story told with the precision of a chef's knife and the honesty of a man with nothing left to hide. Second, it's an addiction and recovery memoir of brutal honesty. Walker's first blackout came at thirteen with a glass of mixed liquor stolen from his parents' cabinet. What followed were fifteen years of drinking without attempting to stop, then fifteen more years of starting and stopping, then finally—on January 1, 2022—sobriety that held. Between those bookends: multiple DUIs, jail time, lost relationships, geographical solutions that stretched from Ohio to Florida to Maryland to the Florida Keys to Idaho, jobs abandoned, opportunities squandered, and the slow, grinding realization that the thing he was running from was inside him the whole time. This is not a redemption story wrapped in a bow—it's the raw, unglamorous accounting of how addiction works, how it doesn't, and what it finally takes to stop digging. Third, it's a coming-of-age narrative about a boy who grew up on an Ohio apple orchard with a beloved Irish Setter named Sandy, watched his schizophrenic brother's eyes go empty, survived the bankruptcy that took the family farm, and learned early that the storm always felt more exciting than the calm. Walker carries readers through the geography of American restlessness: port cities and country clubs, college attempts and spectacular failures, the basement room with the back door that let him slip in and out unannounced, and the long road to Sweetwater, Tennessee, where he would finally stop running. For readers who love memoirs of resilience, Kitchen Confidential-style kitchen culture, or the hard-won wisdom of recovery literature, **How NOT to Do It** delivers all three with unflinching prose and dark humor.

by Antoine bluford

by Sammie Settlemire

Something beneath the town has awakened. After years of silence, Silas Renn begins hearing a voice that should not exist. It doesn't come from dreams. It doesn't come from memory. It comes from beneath reality itself. As impossible fractures spread through town and people begin speaking words they don't remember saying, Silas discovers a terrifying truth: an ancient force known as the Tear has returned, and it knows their name. Hunted by a secretive council, haunted by visions of forgotten lives, and drawn toward a living structure known only as the Spine, Silas is forced to confront a legacy buried beneath generations of lies. The Tear is not what the town believes it is. It is not a curse. It is a door. As reality begins to collapse and something far older reaches through the widening fractures, Silas must decide whether to sacrifice themselves, embrace the Void, or uncover a fourth path no one has survived long enough to find. Blending cosmic horror, surreal fantasy, mystery, and emotional depth, The Spine of All Voids: The Void explores identity, memory, sacrifice, and the hidden forces that shape who we become. Some doors should never open. Some were opened for a reason.

by Summer Hawkins

The Things We Carry is a daughter’s journey through memory, grief, family, and the complicated inheritance of love. At its heart is Don Hawkins—a father, husband, mentor, coach, educator, and friend whose influence reached far beyond his own family. Through memories of football, family, work, caregiving, laughter, loss, and the people whose lives he quietly changed, his daughter begins to see her father not only as the man she knew, but as the man others knew. Some of the stories are hers. Others belong to the people who walked beside him, worked with him, learned from him, challenged him, depended on him, and loved him. Together, those stories become something larger than a portrait of one man. They become a reflection on what we inherit from the people we love: the lessons they taught us, the kindness they showed, the battles they fought, the mistakes they made, and the pieces of themselves they leave behind. Because when someone we love is gone, we don't simply lose them. We carry them. And sometimes, it takes losing someone to finally understand how much of them was already living inside us.

by Jeremy NoFucks Ryan

Hospital monitors beep steadily as federal agents whisper outside the door, waiting for Jeremy Ryan to flatline. But before the silence claims him, his entire defiant existence surges back into focus.   Born into severe rural neglect and subjected to horrific medical abuse under Munchausen by proxy, Jeremy refused to be caged. Breaking free from small-town Wisconsin's psychiatric wards, he fled south into the mid-2000s criminal underworld of Detroit's notorious Cass Corridor. Adopting the street handle Fuzzbuster, Jeremy moved weight, outmaneuvered rival operators, and found a fierce, grounded love in Dominique.   Even as an aggressive cancer diagnosis and punishing radiation threatened his body, Jeremy refused to yield to weakness or fear. But survival in Detroit demands blood. When a fatal neighborhood ambush tears his world apart, claiming Dominique and their unborn child, Jeremy is catapulted into agonizing grief, exile, and a profound psychedelic rebirth.   Origins of a Demon is an unfiltered, heart-pounding journey through institutional violence, organized crime, and relentless personal resilience. Discover what happens when a corrupt system tries to break a man—and creates a demon instead.

by Sammie Settlemire

Sammie didn’t expect to watch her own death from above her body. But when her heart stopped, reality split open. In the chaos of an operating room, she became both witness and patient — hovering outside her own shell while surgeons fought to pull her back from the edge.She saw everything: the wires, the screens, the frantic hands working inside her. She heard the words no living person should ever hear spoken about themselves — time of death. And she felt the terrifying truth of being conscious, aware, and unable to make anyone understand she was still there.This is not fiction. This is not embellished. This is a true story based on real events — the moment Sammie slipped out of her body and into the space between life and whatever waits beyond it.As she drifted through darkness, tunnel vision, and the suffocating weight of her final breath, she discovered a clarity that only comes when everything is stripped away. And when she fought her way back into her body, she carried with her the knowledge that every second matters — because once it’s gone, it never returns.Between Breath and Darkness is the raw, unfiltered opening to Sammie’s memoir: a visceral descent into near‑death awareness, dissociation, and the fragile boundary between existence and oblivion. It is a story of survival told by the only person who lived it.

by Wanda Dee

I believe the only civilization who was right in God's eyes were the natives to North America. Who's land was savagely stolen!  Everything we need is here on this earth in it's true useful form.  If the earth didn't make it  You shouldn't take it!  EVERYONE LIES!! EVERYONE!! AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHEN THEY DO! IT REALLY IS A CURSE IN THIS WORLD TODAY, CUZ ITS USUALLY OVER STUPID SHIT!  IT JUST MEANS THEY ARE NOT MATURE ENOUGH TO BE HONEST AND OWN THEIR FEELINGS.  INTEGRITY IS SO RARE TODAY. SO ARE HONESTY AND LOYALITY THEY DON'T EXSIST!  We were not meant to work 9 to 5 jobs 60 hrs a week just to pay the bills. Which doesn't anymore. Our family should have been our lives. Raising growing and schooling ourselves not some day care school or nanny!  Alot of younger people Gen x n z are tired of spending their time working or maintenance or cleaning on their property with no leftover time.  They are going to Tiny homes which are modern horse n wagons. Some all self contained just as we should be. Depending on only our tribe! These communities are growing all over the USA!  We would have saved our earth from it's self [destruction.by](http://destruction.by) not allowing the envy of false prosperity our wealth and innovation. But we are here now we can still survive and thrive in this world with the proper knowledge...I've put it all in one place! Health hacks, life hacks, family hacks, wealth hacks and everything else in between!  Finding and living your authentic self is our greatest achievement in our life!  I WISH YOU WELL ON YOUR JOURNEY!

by Patrick Sarak Sang

by Patrick Sang

THE SPOKEN WORDS OF PATRICK SARAK SANG  Written in the land of California, in the Americas, in the year two thousand and twenty-six, being the forty-first year of the life of Patrick Sarak Sang, son of Sarak Sang and Vannareth Sam Sang, of the Khmer and American peoples, a witness of these things  THE FIRST BOOK & SECOND BOOK    Book 1 - God Book 2 - America, The World & A God Who Keeps His Promises

by Sammie Settlemire

After dying, waking, and dying again, Sammie watches her own body from above as doctors call her time of death and prepare to let her go. What follows is a chaotic, brutally honest journey through survival, brain damage, disability, humor, trauma, and the stubborn refusal to stay gone. From waking up with tubes down her throat to navigating life in a beat‑up RV with a misunderstood XL bully service dog, Sammie fights her way back into a world that keeps trying to erase her. This memoir is a raw, unfiltered account of the moments between life and death — and the messy, ridiculous, painful, beautiful fight to keep living once you return.

by Kiara Guzman

So I feel like what inspired me to write this as someone who has been through really bad relationships, addiction issues, self-harm, loss, attempts, being locked up, losing myself trying to save other people, homelessness, bad self-image, loss of children terrible abuse that should happen to no one ever. I want my books to give people of all ages. that just because you have been broke doesn't mean you're broken. Just because you were given battles does not mean you give up because everything gets better and it doesn't always stay bad forever. I want people to connect not just on a mental level but to actually feel everything I have said and to know that all the emotions of hate, love , guilt ,shame ,peace ,fear ,distress , and hopefulness does not mean that their story hasn't ended and that it's just starting to take off. Because I remember thinking multiple times I will never get through this or I am not strong enough then I have to remember if I never went through the stuff I went through, I would have never become the person I am today. but yes, i have lost people along the way but that just means they weren't met to stay for the long run. They were met to be there for a lesson and to grow and that perfectly fine. Cause you're going to look at your and say that was worth it cause look at me now.

by Adrian Pruitt

**The Bridge** is not simply a memoir. It is an invitation to investigate the invisible foundations that shape every life. Through deeply personal stories spanning childhood trauma, family secrets, military life, failed rescue, hidden shame, and the long search for identity, Adrian never asks readers to simply witness his past. Every chapter becomes a bridge from his story to their own. Rather than asking, *"What happened to me?"* the book asks deeper questions: *What shaped me?* *What did I learn to believe?* *What patterns did I inherit?* *What do I want to hand forward?* Combining authentic storytelling with practical reflection, **The Bridge** introduces concepts such as the Fixed Point, Generation Zero, the Forensic Audit, and Companion Guides that help readers recognize the difference between survival and healing. This first volume (15 Chapters), **The Foundation**, explores the earliest experiences that quietly formed identity, trust, safety, shame, and resilience. It demonstrates that while we cannot change what was handed to us, we can decide what continues through us. **The Bridge** is written for anyone who has ever wondered why they respond the way they do, where those patterns began, and whether a different future is possible. Because healing does not begin by rewriting the past. It begins by understanding the foundation beneath it.

by RoderickE

**M**ichelangelo believed the sculpture already existed within the marble. Mathematicians often speak of discovering truths rather than inventing them. Writers, too, like to say that characters "***took over***" or that a story "***wanted to be told.***" What if they are all describing the same phenomenon? Every possible story already exists as a potential arrangement of language, just as every sculpture exists as a potential form within stone. The author's gift is not the ability to create possibility but the ability to recognize coherence. An **<u>oeuvre</u>** is the complete body of work produced by an artist, writer, or composer over the course of their lifetime. It refers to their total output taken as a whole, rather than an individual piece. The oeuvre precedes the books in the same way that the sculpture precedes the chisel.

by Mike Miski

by R.K.Mazza

***What happens when the mind you trust most turns against you?***\ Alana wanted to be a good mother. ***This is the true story of a mind fractured by postpartum psychosis*** a condition so misunderstood, so often hidden, that even the people living through it don't always recognize what's happening to them. ***Contradiction of Thoughts doesn't offer easy answers. It offers something rarer:*** the raw, unfiltered truth of what it feels like to want help and resist it, to seek connection while pulling away, to know your thoughts are irrational and still feel trapped inside them. ***This book has one purpose: if even one life is saved because someone read it, that purpose is fulfilled.***\ For the mother who's struggling. For the family member who doesn't know what to do. For anyone who's ever felt like their own mind was the enemy this is the story that says: you are not alone, and this is not your fault. **Overall Assessment** For readers seeking a deeply personal account of depression and postpartum psychosis, *Contradiction of Thoughts: An Enigma of Depression* offers an intimate and thought-provoking perspective. It is best viewed as a memoir and awareness narrative rather than a clinical guide. Its value lies in helping readers understand the emotional complexity and contradictions that can accompany severe depression.   **Best for:** Readers interested in mental health memoirs, family awareness, and firsthand accounts of depression and postpartum psychosis.

by Lura Mckinnon

A girl born in the early 60s learns that in life, there's not always going to be someone to save you. The story captures the resilience, strength, courage as well as ways to get even against people who have hurt her, or her friends, in comical actions. Her father George became her silent hero, and with his silent actions, taught her the ups and down in life. *Life taught me to be strong.* *The men who cheated on me...* *Well, they taught me to be creative.*   People have asked me about the title of this book. Some assume it's about anger. Others think it's about revenge. It isn't. Wrath isn't always loud. Sometimes it's quiet. Sometimes it's walking away. Sometimes it's refusing to let someone else's betrayal define your worth. And sometimes... It's a harmless prank that reminds a person they should have treated you better in the first place. I never believed in cruelty. Life had already shown me enough of that. But I did believe in consequences. Especially the kind that could make you laugh years later. If that's wrath... Then I suppose I'm guilty.

by Luz Molina

You are tired in a way that sleep cannot fix.   You are the woman who handles things. Who shows up. Who figures it out. You carry the career, the family, the household, the community — often all at once, often without anyone noticing, and almost always without anyone asking how you are doing.   You are extraordinary at all of it. And you are exhausted in a way that has stopped feeling temporary.   Holding It All is for the woman who has been holding everything together — and is finally ready to hold it differently.   Drawing on real research and deeply personal experience, bilingual community advocate and author Luz Molina takes you on an honest, warm, and deeply personal journey through:   Naming the invisible load — the cognitive, emotional, and physical labor that falls disproportionately on women and goes largely unseen Understanding where your roles came from — the family patterns, cultural expectations, and inherited beliefs that shaped who you became Releasing guilt, setting limits with love, and learning to say no without losing the people you care about Reclaiming your body, your rest, your voice, and your sense of self — not someday, but now Building the community, financial independence, and sustainable foundation that makes thriving possible Defining what thriving actually looks like for you — on your terms, in your life With bilingual tools and boundary scripts in both English and Spanish, Holding It All speaks to every woman who has ever said "Estoy bien" when she was anything but.   You don't have to put it all down. You just have to stop carrying it the same way.

by SummerRuby Provience

The Inherited Silence follows Summer as she confronts the quiet legacy that shaped her life—an unspoken history passed down through generations, carried in gestures, memories, and the spaces where words should have lived. Growing up inside a silence she didn’t create, she learned early how to read what wasn’t said, how to survive on fragments, and how to hold together a story that never fully belonged to her. As an adult, the weight of that silence becomes impossible to ignore. When a long‑buried truth resurfaces, Summer is forced to examine the emotional architecture of her past: the patterns she repeated without understanding, the loyalties she inherited without choosing, and the questions she avoided because the answers felt too dangerous to touch. What begins as a search for clarity becomes an excavation—of memory, identity, and the hidden forces that shaped her family. Through lyrical honesty and unflinching introspection, The Inherited Silence traces the journey of a woman determined to break a generational pattern by finally naming what was never spoken. It is a memoir about the cost of carrying what isn’t yours, the courage required to confront what you were taught to ignore, and the moment when silence becomes a story you can no longer keep buried. At its heart, this is the story of one truth—carried for years, protected by silence, and finally ready to be told.

by Don Wilbert

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by Sarah Bantu

Forget the green beer. Forget the plastic shamrocks. Forget the myths of little green creatures and fairy tales.\ Long before he became a legend, he was just Patricius an arrogant, wealthy sixteen year old Roman British boy who cared about nothing but his own comfort. But when brutal Irish raiders tear through his home, his world is violently shattered. Dragged across the sea in chains, Patricius is sold into slavery, stripped of his name, and left to survive the freezing winters of a wild, pagan land.\ Forced to herd sheep on a desolate mountain, the terrified boy must either break under the cruelty of his captors or forge himself into something unbreakable.\ *The Confessio* is the raw, cinematic, untold true story of Saint Patrick. From a daring, near-impossible two hundred mile escape to a powerful, miraculous return to the very land that enslaved him, this is an epic tale of survival, grit, and a faith that would forever transform a nation.

by Sarah Bantu

**A breathtaking true story of unimaginable loss, survival, and the fierce resilience of a child's heart.** **In the gritty, contrasting streets of post-Soviet St. Petersburg, nine-year-old girl lived as a "Little Shadow" always running to keep pace with her older brother and undisputed hero, Yuri. To her, the city was a sun-drenched playground of fortresses and boundless adventure.** **Until the fateful morning a catastrophic explosion shattered her world in a single second.** **Left holding nothing but Yuri’s scuffed rubber shoe, she was thrust into a downward spiral of adult tragedy. As grief mutated into fatal addiction and suicide, she lost both of her parents, survived the cold cruelty of an abusive relative, and was violently torn away from her sister by state authorities. Stranded in a sterile Russian orphanage, she had to build a calloused armor just to survive the freezing institutional gray.** **But from clouds of flour in the kitchen to the hot spotlights of the orphanage stage, her spirit refused to bleed out. Clutching her brother's shoe beneath her iron cot, she used her memories as a weapon against the dark.** **UNBROKEN is a profoundly moving, cinematic memoir of a young girl’s journey through the deepest shadows of trauma to the brilliant, twinkling Christmas lights of a new beginning in America. It is a raw, heart wrenching testament to the unbreakable bond of siblings, the cost of survival, and the beautiful, enduring light that can never be extinguished.**

by ANDRE WILLIS Sr

This story is about being a square and faced with survival and the hard streets living in Atlanta Ga.