Showing titles in Dysfunctional Families

A beautiful, startling, and candid memoir about growing up without boundaries, in which Ariel Leve recalls with candor and sensitivity the turbulent time she endured as the only child of an unstable poet for a mother and a beloved but largely absent father, and explores the consequences of a...

By the age of nine, I will have lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, under six assumed identities. I’ll know how a document is forged, how to withstand an interrogation, and most important, how to disappear . . . To the young Cheryl Diamond, life felt like one big...

In Narcissism: How to Stop Narcissistic Abuse, Heal Your Relationships, and Transform Your Life, you’ll learn everything you need to know about narcissism. You’ll equip yourself with the tools you need to stop narcissists in their tracks, build healthier relationships, and recover from narcissistic abuse.

A raw, funny, and fiercely honest account of becoming a mother before feeling like a grown up. When Meaghan O'Connell got accidentally pregnant in her twenties and decided to keep the baby, she realized that the book she needed -- a brutally honest, agenda-free reckoning with the emotional and...

Narcissists are seemingly irresistibly charming people. They fill you with love and attention until you fall in love, and then they trap you in their darkness. Behind this fascinating façade, there is, unfortunately, almost always a ruthless manipulator who punishes you by taking away your affection and attention every time you disobey. This book warns against narcissists by teaching you to recognize them, recognize their subtle tricks, and showing you how to break this vicious circle. Your boundaries are not negotiable. This is the right book that can help you take back your life.

Brought to you by Penguin. He's been looking in the windows again. Messing with cameras. Leaving notes. Supposed to be a refuge. But death got inside. When Katie Straw's body is pulled from the waters of the local suicide spot, the police decide it's an open-and-shut case. A standard-issue...

“I’m a simple village girl who has always obeyed the orders of my father and brothers. Since forever, I have learned to say yes to everything. Today I have decided to say no.” Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man...

Electroshock therapy, child abuse, and modern-day slavery... just another day in Christine's life. Take a heart-wrenching yet inspiring ride through one woman's incredible journey that is so compelling that you are simultaneously trying to look away and unable to stop yourself from listening on. Christine's father is a wealthy, tyrannical man renowned in the diamond business. At the age of just five, little Christine is cast aside into a boarding school where she is ridiculed for two embarrassing problems. She grows up in a never-ending circle of traumatic experiences.

I suffered at the hands of a malignant narcissist for seven years. I was emotionally tortured by his nasty, venomous words, his hateful behavior towards me and his sadistic enjoyment of anything that upset me. For years I was under his control, beaten down to the point where I had no perception of reality. I was a shell of a human. I wrote this book for anyone else who is suffering at the hands of a malignant narcissist. I want to offer not only healing words but also guide you through understanding the disorder in order to better help you deal with it.

It’s a fact that the narcissist in your life doesn’t care about you. Dr. Judith Orloff said it best: “Narcissists have an empathy deficit disorder. They’re not capable of empathy as we know it.” As a result, they are more likely to engage in manipulative behaviors than to commit long-term. To the narcissist, you're nothing more than a source of attention, admiration, and praise. They need you to supply these things so that they can continue to support their inflated false sense of self.

Wife Mother Drunk is an intergenerational memoir recounting the author’s harrowing struggle with alcoholism, tracing it back through her ancestry to the times of the pioneers when the seeds of trauma were first planted, long before they overtook her otherwise loving life.

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR USA TODAY BOOK CLUB PICK ONE OF AUDIBLE'S BEST BIOS AND MEMOIRS OF 2023 “A raw, intimate look at [Hendrickson's] life with a stutter. It’s a profoundly moving book that will reshape the way you think about people living with this condition...

Follow the author's heart-wrenching story about her domestic violence experiences with her Thai ex-partner and the secondary trauma of not being believed, being pressured to stay silent by some of her expat community, and being gaslit into questioning her reality. It's about a mother fighting to protect herself and her two babies from psychological abuse during the COVID pandemic lockdown on a remote island in Thailand. In this raw memoir, Juanelle courageously breaks years of enforced silence to share her journey from survivor to advocate.

To the outside world, she was a bright, popular, all-American adolescent. But at home, behind closed doors, lived another Katherine - shamed, isolated, afraid - locked in a forbidden embrace from which there was no escape. It was a secret too terrible to silence. It had to surface, shattering her life, changing it radically - but with its release, bringing at last a new hope, not just to Katherine and her family, but to all the Katherine Bradys everywhere who will recognize themselves as they hear her story.

The first book written specifically for men, Victims No Longer examines the changing cultural attitudes toward male survivors of incest and other sexual trauma. Now, in this second edition, this invaluable resource continues to offer compassionate and practical advice, supported by personal anecdotes and statements of male survivors.

Devastating family drama, abandonment, and drugs are balanced with laugh-out-loud humor that will keep you turning pages. You'll laugh, cry, and be left begging for more. The story begins with an episode that occurred in 1974. When Tom Bross (age 12) experiences a sudden move from Davis to San Anselmo to live with their God Family. Just two months later they move back to Davis with no place to live. His brother and sisters are dropped off at their friend's houses.

The patriarch, C. F. Seabrook, was hailed as the "Henry Ford of Agriculture." His son Jack, a keen businessman, was poised to take over what Life called "the biggest vegetable factory on earth." But the carefully cultivated facade—glamorous outings by horse-drawn carriage, hidden wine cellars, and movie star girlfriends—hid dark secrets that led to the implosion of the family business. A compelling tale of class and privilege, betrayal and revenge three decades in the making, The Spinach King explores the author's complicated family legacy and the dark corners of the American Dream.

Tired of endless battles with your narcissistic ex? Does every conversation turn into manipulation? Worried about how this toxic dynamic is affecting your child? Co-parenting with a narcissist is exhausting. Gaslighting, control tactics, and legal fights make peaceful parenting feel impossible. But you can take back control. This guide provides practical strategies to help you navigate co-parenting or parallel parenting with a high-conflict ex, protect your child, and reclaim your peace.

In this groundbreaking audiobook, business consultant Patrick Lencioni turns his sights on the most important organization in our lives–the family. Lencioni realized the discrepancy between the time and energy his clients put into running their organizations and the reactive way most people...

Monique, the daughter of San Diego Chargers football great Earl Faison, married her high school sweetheart soon after she discovered she was pregnant with his child. Her relationship with Chris was shaky from the start, but turned tumultuous as he became verbally and physically abusive. When she could no longer put up with the abuse, she left him with their children. That was when the stalking and genuine threats began. Nothing stopped him - not protection injunctions, police warnings, or even arrests. One fateful Monday morning, Chris kidnapped Monique....