I wrote this book for anyone who has lived through something like what I have — or who simply recognizes a piece of their own story in mine.

I’ve come to believe that words have the power to move us, to reach across distances and find us exactly where we are. Words, said the right way, can change how we see — they can shift a perspective, open a door we didn’t know was there, turn pain into something we can finally begin to understand. When you’ve been through a great deal, you become a seeker. You start looking for some sign that your pain has been felt before, that someone, somewhere, has stood where you’re standing. And often, just when you’re certain you are utterly alone in your agony — you read. And you discover that you were never alone at all.

That is my hope for these pages: that they find you when you need them, that they offer a new way of seeing, and that they remind you that you are not alone.