Title: One Small Word: Surviving Childhood Abuse
Author: Gloria Eveleigh
Publisher: URLink Print & Media, LLC
ISBN: 978-1643671581
Pages: 206
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Reviewed by: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
One of the trickiest aspects of a person’s life are the memories they hold onto. For many, memories can be forgotten or pushed so far down they are nearly unreachable. For many, a recovered memory can bring about feelings of nostalgia or joy, but for others memories can be haunting. As H.P. Lovecraft once said, “Unhappy is he to whom the memories of childhood bring only fear and sadness.”
In author Gloria Eveleigh’s One Small Word: Surviving Childhood Abuse, the author takes readers on a painful and reflective look into the haunting world of childhood abuse. Following Frankie, a 50-year old social work student who suddenly finds memories she had long suppressed flooding back into her mind, remembers the abuse she suffered both physically and mentally at the hands of her abusive father. The book explores the power of therapy and coming to understand how past experiences and abuses can shape who we become in the future.
This is a heartbreaking, tragic yet ultimately healing read that showcases the journey through painful memories and abuse, and the road those affected by it take to find peace. The author touches upon the need not only for therapy, but the work that goes into turning negativity and tragic pasts into positivity and hopeful futures. The writing is honest and the use of imagery throughout this memoir really put readers into the author’s perspective, giving a whole new understanding of those affected by childhood abuse and how they fight to overcome it.
The book is a must-read for those who enjoy memoir’s, those seeking narratives that look into the trauma and recovery of childhood abuse, and non-fiction reads overall. It was powerful and impactful to me as a reader to read the words of the author’s experiences translated onto the book and feel the raw emotions that went into those words, making this a truly impactful read.
Emotional, evenly paced and engaging, Gloria Eveleigh’s One Small Word: Surviving Childhood Abuse is a powerful non-fiction read not to be missed. While painful and saddening to read at times, the purpose of overcoming abuse and finding a way to turn those negative emotions which come with those memories into a force for positive change makes this a remarkable story that needed to be told.