Victoria Stotts story begins with her early memories of being raised by her adoptive parents on Canadian Forces Bases during the 1970s. Her older brother, also adopted, initiated a campaign of relentless torment and sexual abuse against Victoria that persisted for years and led her to contemplate suicide. He bullied their parents as well, and at one point Victoria thought that killing him would be the best solution for everyone.
A summer job working at a pool was the beginning of her breaking away from her family and the small town she lived in. But pregnancy and marriage to a violent husband when she was just nineteen brought Victoria back into the cycle of abuse. When her children were small, she found out her husband was having secret affairs, doing drugs, and had maxed out all their credit cards. She finally left her husband; he later died in a car accident. A subsequent marriage produced her fourth child.
Finally diagnosed with C-PTSD from her years of family trauma, the author begins her journey towards healing and hope.
