No scholarly book has yet been published that documents the health problems, unhealthy relationship patterns, or self-loathing that children who grow up exposed to a batterer often carry with them through their adult lives. Enter Helen Gennari's ground- breaking memoir. We get to follow that little girl into her adult life. Her voice is so clear and resonant, and her decision to take her private life out into the public view is a gift to all of us.
-Lundy Bancroft, Author of When Dad Hurts Mom
Consultant on domestic abuse and child mistreatment Author of When Dad Hurts Mom: Helping Your Children Heal the Wounds of Witnessing Abuse
This book provides an honest and heartfelt personal account regard- ing the recovery journey away from childhood powerlessness, due to witnessing domestic violence and maternal emotional neglect, toward a state of power and personal choice in adulthood. Lessons learned include how each of us possesses the ability to make our own choices, and effect our destinies, no matter what has come before.
-Kim Anderson, PhD., LCSW Associate Professor, School of Social Work University of Missouri Author of Enhancing Resilience in Survivors of Family Violence
This is a wonderful guide for empathy and insight toward healing abandonment.
-Susan Anderson Author of Black Swan: The Twelve Lessons of Abandonment Recovery
The journey of healing is a personal one, but it need not be traveled alone. In Helen Gennari's From the Heart of an Abandoned Daughter, her vivid and moving stories of a childhood silenced by her father's violence against her mother, lead to an adult's path of healing that others may follow. Like the "mothering tree" that gave her comfort in a comfortless childhood, Helen provides a safe, sturdy and living process for others to use to recover their true selves, their inherent resilience, and their own individual healing.
-Colleen Coble Chief Executive Officer, Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence
This book is a wonderful gift of hope, healing, wisdom and peace for anyone who has grown up with, or is experiencing family violence. The impact of this trauma on innocent children can result in a lifetime lived in fear, isolation, shame and insecurity. Helen invites us, her readers, to accompany her as she shares not only her story but the transformational journey beyond a painful past. Comforted, informed and uplifted, we are empowered to release the bonds of the past in order to embrace a fulfilling, safe, joyful present and future. We deserve nothing less.
-Mary E. Burns Family violence survivor Former Executive Director of Woman's Place, Drop-in Center for abused women, St. Louis, MO
