Akron Public Library

A man who suffered horrific abuse as a child speaks of his adult life and how he learned to love, trust, and pursue his dreams.

Imagine ... growing up in an unfinished geodesic dome home with no heat or running water, wearing the same clothes to school every day, and eating breakfast cereal with warm goat milk. In this whimsical, poetic, and gripping autobiographical account, Jennifer Asbenson describes her abusive, dysfunctional, and chaotic upbringing, her abduction and escape from a serial killer, her years in and out of mental hospitals, her decision to heal herself, and...

"Marilynne Robinson, one of the greatest novelists of our time, returns to the town of Gilead in an unforgettable story of a girlhood lived on the fringes of society in fear, awe, and wonder. Lila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church-the only available shelter from the rain-and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister, John Ames, and begins...

Garnering media attention when she tries to incinerate her dead father, reclusive Sally Diamond, beginning to discover the horrors of her early childhood, steps into the world for the first time and soon finds her trust issues severely challenged by a sinister voice from her past she does not remember.

After a five-year absence, Seth Quinn has returned home from Europe a world-renowned artist. He's ready to settle down in the same picturesque town on the Bay where the three step-brothers who raised him now live. Soon, Seth meets beautiful, independent Druscilla "Dru" Whitcomb Banks and falls in love with her almost immediately. Life takes on an idyllic glow until someone from his past begins blackmailing him again.

Though they seem to have everything, Hannah Parks has watched her husband, Dallin, become increasingly distant. Her hope is buoyed when the couple decides to start a family, but what Dallin reveals in his sleep one night rocks Hannah to her core. As she starts to investigate a much darker side of Dallin than she ever knew existed, Hannah peels away the layers of a diseased relationship closely tied to her own abusive past. When Dallin attempts to...

"Abused by his mother as a child, Dave hastaken everything that has happened to him and turned it into something positive so that he can help others. Dave explains how we can move beyond a painful history, harmful negative thoughts, and innumerable setbacks by taking control and beeing accountable for our lives. Filled with his own history as well as the personal struggls of those who have followed his three-step plan for turning adversity into triumph."...

Nora Brown teaches high school English and lives a quiet life in Seattle with her husband and six-year-old daughter. But one November day, moments after dismissing her class, a girl's face appears above the students' desks -- ''a wild numinous face with startling blue eyes, a face floating on top of shapeless drapes of purples and blues where arms and legs should have been. Terror rushes through Nora's body -- the kind of raw terror you feel when...

When Jane Elliott was four years old, the nightmare began. She became the helpless victim of a sociopath-bullied, dominated, and sexually abused by a man only fourteen years her senior: her stepfather. For nearly two decades she was held prisoner, both physically and emotionally. But at the age of twenty-one she escaped . . . and then she fought back. The Little Prisoner is the shocking, astonishing, and ultimately uplifting true story of one woman's...

"For David Goggins, childhood was a nightmare. Poverty, prejudice, and physical abuse colored his days and haunted his nights. But through self-discipline, mental toughness, and hard work, Goggins transformed himself from a depressed, overweight young man with no future into a U.S. Armed Forces icon and one of the world's top endurance athletes. The only man in history to complete elite training as a Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Air Force Tactical...