Scarred: She was a slave to her father. Pain was her only escape.


Sophie Andrews - 2008
    She was her father's slave, in the most horrific ways imaginable. At just a few months old she was adopted by a couple that seemed comfortably well off and perfectly respectable to the outside world. But behind closed doors, Sophie's childhood was a living hell. Her father spent the next decade grooming her for abuse and when Sophie's mother left for good, that very night, he told Sophie that from now on she would sleep in his bed. Unable to cope, Sophie spiraled into suicidal misery. She began to self-harm to try and escape the agony. But one day she went too far and at 16, ended up in a psychiatric unit. It was here that she finally confronted the horrors of home and began the painful journey of rebuilding her life. A phenomenally courageous woman, Sophie now works for the Samaritans and helps other young people in need. Harrowing yet compelling, this is a searing and truly inspirational account of overcoming the worst abuse and self-harm.

Long Blue Line: Based on a True Story


E. McNew - 2014
    It candidly reveals the provocative and secret world of a planned teen pregnancy and the brutal consequences that follow. The girl next door - popular and driven. Once upon a time a beautiful teenager looked forward to school letting out and the warm, carefree days to come. But in the summer of her fifteenth year, things would drastically change. After reading a romance book sensationalizing a young woman's perfect life following the hookup with a wealthy prince charming, Elizabeth set out to create her own fairy tale ending. This would become the beginning of the darkest hours in her life: pregnancy, bridesmaids, drugs and jail. Long Blue Line is Elizabeth's true story about her descent into addiction. Her obsession with pregnancy, social issues, independence, and, ultimately drugs is chronicled in brutally honest Prose that will leave you spellbound. Her journey isn't over - far from it. She still has nightmares, but today she is wiser and lives in reality. If you are this girl, you will take a deep breath and nod your head knowingly. If you knew this girl, you will rethink your assumptions. If this girl is your daughter, you will finally get an insider's look at what she can't put into words. Above all, you will be moved - moved to tears, to unity, to action. Elizabeth is one of the lucky ones. She survived. Sadly, many young women and their children are unable to escape the madness and become another one of too many true crime stories. Not everyone gets a second chance, and she hopes to inspire others with her straightforward honesty.

Texas Love Triangle Murder


Kathryn Casey - 2011
    Hurley Fontenot was the principal in the junior school, Laura Nugent the school secretary, and Bill Fleming the school's coach. The two men loved the same woman. Did their obsession lead to murder?

Unbothered: Break Down the Boulders Between You and Your True Potential


Angela Rummans - 2019
     Perform a flawless Level 10 gymnastics routine? Easy. Jump fourteen feet in the air using a spindly fiberglass pole? Please. Turn two hundred dollars into a six-figure business? Piece of cake. Live in a house with sixteen strangers, surrounded by cameras? Uh . . . With a wry sense of humor and fearless attitude, Angela Rummans takes us on a journey from top-tier athlete to reality TV star and self-made businesswoman in this tell-all memoir. Along the way, she shares powerful lessons of how to get back up when life knocks you down. Throughout the book, Angela rips the band-aid off her most painful moments and tells life where to stick those lemons. From her highest highs—competing in pole vault at the Olympic level, building a business from scratch and finding her soulmate—to the lowest lows, she shows how it is truly possible to reinvent yourself as many times as you want.

Armageddon Heights


D.M. Mitchell - 2014
    Two men, two stories, one breathtaking conclusion. The first man is Samuel Wade, an ex-soldier, on the run and blamed for the murder of his beloved wife and daughter. But he’s on the trail of the real murderer and is seeking revenge. He boards a coach bound for Edinburgh, hot on the heels of his one-time friend and army colleague John Travers – a man who was kidnapped and brutally tortured by insurgents. A man who blamed Wade for allowing it to happen. The man who killed his family. What happens next is totally unexpected and bizarre. Trying to sleep during a storm, Wade wakes to discover that the coach and its ten remaining passengers is no longer headed to Edinburgh. Impossibly, it’s in the middle of a vast, unknown and hostile desert, abandoned by its driver. Are they asleep, is it a dream? Are they all dead? So their nightmare begins. The second man is Robert Napier, second-in-command at Lindegaard Software, a company run by the powerfully wealthy Dale Lindegaard. Dale took over the business when his brother Jeremy and niece Melissa were brutally gunned down by an activist group known as CSL. Jeremy died, and Melissa was reduced to a vegetative state, and all because of Lindegaard’s complete control of a controversial new drug called tremethelene, used by millions worldwide. CSL was duly crushed, their leaders now in jail. But CSL has come back from the dead with a new leader called Charlie Sharland, threatening Dale Lindegaard’s tremethelene monopoly all over again. Lindegaard is determined to stamp them out for good and urges Robert Napier to do whatever it takes to rid him of them. Even murder. As Samuel Wade’s living nightmare in the desert grows ever more bizarre and terrifying, Robert Napier is forced to work with Dean Villiers, a cold, calculating and violently ambitious man. He is drawn ever deeper into the dark underbelly of a multi-billion dollar corporation, where violence and greed are the norm and nothing is as it first appears. Who is the mole known as Cobalt? Who and where is Charlie Sharland? Does he even exist? And what exactly is motivating the scheming Dean Villiers? Both men are out for revenge. Wade because of his family’s murder, Napier because of what happened to the vegetative Melissa Lindegaard, his wife-to-be. Both men’s lives are irrevocably intertwined. Both their stories will come crashing together in the terrifying, surprising, jaw-dropping climax of D. M. Mitchell’s undeniably original and most imaginative thriller to date. Dare you take a journey into nightmare?

Nobody Came: The Appalling True Story of Brothers Cruelly Abused in a Jersey Care Home


Robbie Garner - 2009
    'Nobody Came' is a harrowing account by one of the survivors of the Haut de la Garenne children's home in Jersey.

The Drop Box: How 500 Abandoned Babies, an Act of Compassion, and a Movie Changed My Life Forever


Brian Ivie - 2015
    Brian traveled halfway around the world to film the documentary The Drop Box. But God had even bigger plans. For in the midst of filming the plight of these abandoned and forgotten children, Brian realized his own spiritual brokenness. At its heart, this is a story of spiritual orphans—young and old—discovering their true identity as children of God.

Outlaws


Kevin Sampson - 2001
    Gun law is out of control. Organized gangs are fighting for supremacy in clubland and the lucrative supply of narcotics. Younger, more ruthless gangs are moving in. Ged, Moby and Ratter, three South End villains, are old-fashioned highwaymen with two decades of meticulously planned jobs behind them. But times are tough. It’s Christmas and Ged is planning a job to see the boys through until spring. As usual, he won’t give them any details until the morning of the job. Until then, they have to stay off the street and keep out of trouble.But Moby loves to go out – girls love him, guys send drinks over – he could live like this forever. And Ratter wants out – he’s invested his loot in the booming property sector. As the heist approaches, Ged needs to summon all his street savvy and killer instinct just to survive.

Odessa Dreams (Kindle Single)


Shaun Walker - 2014
    The men spend a week in the port city of Odessa, hoping to find true love and a Ukrainian bride to bring home. The country has a huge dating and marriage industry, but it quickly becomes apparent that all is not what it seems. Walker uncovers scams and disappointments, wounded hearts and broken lives as he journeys to the very bottom of Odessa’s sinister marriage industry. There are many twists and turns to the tale that are as shocking as they are unexpected. Odessa Dreams is by turns hilariously funny, poignantly tragic and deeply disturbing. It is a roller coaster journey that will leave the reader feeling uncomfortable for quite some time. Shaun Walker is Moscow Correspondent for The Guardian, and previously for The Independent. He studied Russian History at Oxford University and has lived in Moscow for a decade.

Joseph and Emma: A Love Story (Volume II , 2)


Marsha Newman - 2002
    Few, if any, of the most imaginative writers of love stories have or could have envisioned the experiences of this couple.

Chasing Eden A Memoir


Cherilyn Christen Clough - 2019
     Her parents believe God wants them to stay isolated from the world. It seems their goals are at odds with each other. As Cherilyn's family moves from town to town, running from bill collectors and becoming more isolated, their housing situation keeps deteriorating until they end up homeless. When her mother declares they'll need to put their lives on hold until they can live like normal people, Cherilyn becomes determined to fix their situation--only to be thwarted by her father's control. Despite physical beatings, religious abuse, and abject poverty, her superpowers could ultimately set her free--if only she can figure out how to use them. Compared to Educated and the Glass Castle What Amazon readers are saying about Chasing Eden ★★★★★ "As someone who is obsessed with memoir, I can say this one stands with the best. Readers will see similarities to the fathers in Educated and The Glass Castle, but this in no way makes Cherilyn's story predictable. I was glued to my seat, fingernails dug in, going from tears of frustration to gasps of shock to being so angry that I wanted to throw my iPad across the room. However and delightfully so, there were also enough laughs and beautiful moments to get me through the saga of neglect and abuse." ★★★★★ "Riveting! Funny and simultaneously horrifying!" ★★★★★ "Emotional, witty, heart-wrenching, engaging." ★★★★★ "The author is a master storyteller. You will not be disappointed!" ★★★★★ "Such graphic word pictures that I couldn't put the book down." ★★★★★ "This is a book about the power of hope. While trapped in its pages, I laughed, cried, and dreamt too." ★★★★★ "This is a gripping, heart-wrenching, actual-factual, living nightmare!" ★★★★★ "I feel personally richer and more resilient for having read it." ★★★★★ "As a literary scholar, I was compelled by the fine tensions and suspense Clough builds in her memoir." ★★★★★ "This one spoke to my soul. Beyond words, reading this book changes you." ★★★★★ "As a trauma therapist, I will be recommending this book to my clients." ★★★★★ "Chasing Eden is the poignant story of a young girl's search for unconditional love and acceptance in a bewildering world full of contradictions." ★★★★★ "For readers who've appreciated the introspection of Educated, Clough adds another voice to understanding the way in which extremist beliefs are lived out in family life.

The Magic Castle: A Mother's Harrowing True Story Of Her Adoptive Son's Multiple Personalities-- And The Triumph Of Healing


Carole Smith - 1998
    But nothing had prepared them for the unruly, self-destructive boy who stormed into their lives. Alone with Alex during the day, Carole was baffled by his infantile tantrums and violent, self-hating behaviors. Exasperated, she tried relating to him as the two-year-old he appeared to be, and finally, a door to Alex's mind began to open.With the help of psychiatrist Dr. Steven Kingsbury, Alex's tormented mind revealed a host of personalities, each born in a horrifying episode of Alex's past-- each carrying a memory too powerful for his conscious mind to handle. As the personalities came forth in the safety of Alex's inner, secret castle, they unleashed stories of abandonment, brainwashing, and sexual abuse by those Alex trusted the most. In the spellbinding tradition of Sybil and When Rabbit Howls, here is a fascinating true story of the human mind; of innocence shattered by inhuman cruelty; and ultimately of love's power to transform fragments into wholeness-- tragedy into triumph.

Chasing A Flawed Sun


Daniel McGhee - 2019
     However in “Chasing a flawed sun” the author shows us how after breaking him down and almost taking his life several times, the battle with the drug did just that.  This is a true story.  A transparent story of the life of a young man in America, who, like many of our lost youth, found his way into the drug culture.  This story is an autopsy into the mind, heart and soul of an addict.  It begins at childhood and takes us through the thoughts, turmoil and inner conflicts of a person lost in the undercurrent of addiction, and ends in a climax of self discovery, and realization.It is a gripping tale of a suburban youth and his journey through the streets of Baltimore, institutions, prisons, addiction, and worst of all, his own mind.  What makes it so unique is the vulnerability and transparency with which it is told.       It is the goal of this story to not only to tell a vivid tale but to also share hope and experience with those who are actively struggling with their own demons, and to shed some light to those who have lost or are currently dealing with a loved one who is struggling with addiction, alcoholism and/or a lost sense of “self”.Daniel McGhee lives and owns several businesses just outside of Baltimore, Md.  He also owns a non-profit and works with addicts, children and homeless in his area.  In his eighteen years in recovery he’s learned to enjoy writing, fitness, and traveling the world.  He enjoys going to other countries either for relief work, exploration or just chasing the sun that never ceases. "Chasing a Flawed Sun is in turns beautiful and brutal. The book is profoundly insightful for someone who has felt the sting of addiction. It is a difficult subject to write about, but McGhee has done a great service in writing this book. Not only has Daniel McGhee survived hell and lived to tell the tale, but his words are an inspiration and can act as a guide for people still traversing that dark path, in a memoir that is at once merciless and uplifting."                                                                                                                                                         ~Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½

Child C: Surviving a Foster Mother's Reign of Terror


Christopher Spry - 2008
    Her home had become a prison where over the course of 20 years she routinely abused and tortured her charges. Behind closed doors she was a sadistic tyrant who beat her children with metal bars, forced wooden sticks down their throats, and made them eat lard, bleach, vomit, and feces. In this harrowing account, one of the victims of Spry’s wrath—known during the trial as Child C—tells the full, shocking story of his enforced isolation and the psychological and physical abuse he endured. Despite years of suffering and abandonment, with his mother now behind bars, today Christopher Spry is a survivor with a zest for life.

Sunshine: The Diary of a Lap Dancer


Samantha C. Ross - 2020
    That's her stage name. Follow her downstairs into the shadowy underworld of the so-called Gentlemen's Clubs, where men hide in dark corners and pay gorgeous women like Sunshine to take their clothes off. Follow her to the private rooms where the lap dances happen, the hustle plays out and the real money flows. Sit with her in the back room with the other dancers, her friends and colleagues, who laugh and cry and rake in the dollars and party as though a zombie apocalypse is on the horizon.Sunshine tells us in her own brutally honest and audacious words what it's like to work as a stripper, both in Australia and overseas. Coming to TV in 2021!