She was almost fifteen on the night she dared for the first time to think of what life might be like away from home. Pa again had come home drunk and mean; the trauma of the subsequent scene had been repeated as long as Damaris could remember. The idea that she no longer needs to tolerate this, that maybe she's old enough to manage on her own, is planted in her mind and begins to grow. She must plan her escape carefully, but she must get away from...

Aces is the story of a young man who fights against the battering of his mother by his drunken father. The situation escalates until Ace desperately stabs his father to death, and is sent to jail for a period of 15 years. Nine years later he is out on parole. He kills again within a day's time of his release.

This book is an account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games -- games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."--Back...

This book is an introduction into the workings of Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous. As people come together to find help and support in dealing with the effects of alcoholism, they often find help and solace in the experiences shared by other member. They come together for many different reasons, and return looking for one reason: hope of a better life. How Al-Anon Works for Families & Friends of Alcoholics opens wide the door to a remarkable fellowship...

Presents a literary memoir of poems, essays, and intimate family photos that reflect on the author's complicated relationship with his mother and his disadvantaged childhood on a Native American reservation.

"Douglas Stuart's first novel Shuggie Bain is one of the most successful literary debuts of the century so far. It was awarded the 2020 Booker Prize, and is now published or forthcoming in forty territories, having already sold more than a million copies worldwide. Now Stuart returns with Young Mungo, his extraordinary second novel. Five years in the writing, it is both a page-turner and literary tour de force, a vivid portrayal of working-class life...

Maverick Falconer is just starting middle school and he wishes he were a hero like his father because maybe then he could deal with his mother's drinking and series of abusive boyfriends, not to mention the kids who bully him in middle school (pretty much the same ones who bullied him in elementary school)--but as the year passes he begins to realize that other kids have problems too, and maybe if they can all survive sixth-grade things will get better....

The story of "Edie's soul-searching journey out of the rubble of her childhood, through the devastating choices of her adulthood, and into a life of healing and forgiveness that she never dreamed possible"--Page 4 of cover.

Publisher Annotation: Lou and her family don't have much, but for Lou it's enough. Mom. Her sister, Casey. Their apartment in the city. Her best friend, Beth. It would be better if Dad could stop drinking and be there for her and Casey, and if they didn't have to worry about money all the time. But Lou doesn't need better-she only needs enough. What's enough for Lou, however, is not enough for Mom. Steve, Mom's boyfriend, isn't a bad guy, he's just...not...