The Black Leather Satchel

"Czech relates her struggle to make peace with her painful childhood and to learn to accept emotional intimacy in her life. Her story begins when her mother flees with her boyfriend and the author after losing a custody battle with Czech's father in Connecticut. The new family begins a new life on the Ben Davis Farm in Vermont, where the author says that she was later subjected to horrifying sexual abuse by her stepfather. Fortunately, she says several people helped her heal over the course...