Many thanks to NetGalley and Convergent Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this amazing memoir by J. Dana Trent. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!
Born to drug-addicted, mentally ill parents in rural Indiana, Dana was a preschooler when her father (the King) got her involved in dealing drugs. Her mother, the Lady, expected Dana to be her keeper. The only normalcy she got was with her extended family for brief respites. Otherwise, it was a poor, chaotic, mentally abusive childhood. Even in childhood, the emotional stranglehold her mother held on her kept her from living a more normal life. Yet, despite all those odds, she became a college professor and minister.
I am always in awe of people who are able, through their own personal strength, to rise out of such horrible childhoods to become stable, healthy, productive adults. So many people waste the many opportunities they are handed, while others have to fight and scrabble. Dana's parents no doubt loved her, but between their own bad childhoods, poverty, and mental illness, they were definitely not equipped to raise a child. Eye opening memoir for sure and many wishes to Dana and Fred for a very happy life!
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