Overview

It used to be so easy to lose a child. In the United States of the early twentieth century, all the government required was that a child be registered at birth and attend school until the age of fifteen. There were no mandatory reporting laws or other safety regulations in place. A child like young Mia could be left to the whims and cruelties of her parents. Mia's tormentor and torturer is her own mother, Nadia. Nadia, the imperious matriarch of the family, takes an unnatural interest in her own young daughter. Mia's father is too emotionally weak to stop his wife. As Mia grows up with Nadia's many cruelties, she begins to understand the twisted nature of the cycle of abuse. Nadia perpetuates the violence her own father created. Mia's older siblings, also abused by their mother, take their anger out on the younger children. The cycle continues. Can Mia be the one to finally break free? In this stunning autobiography about abuse, author J. C. Flyn uses Mia as a stand-in for her own experiences. Mia's journey will open your eyes to the suffering many children still endure behind closed doors.