Survivors Books

Survivors' Books

Books for sexual abuse survivors seem to range from the very wonderful to the almost appalling. Here are some of my favourites. Several of them seem to be out of print or not available from Amazon; I've given the link anyway so that you can get the ISBN number and other information. I've found Abe Books to be the best place on the net for getting hold of hard to find and out of print books, so I suggest you try there.

The Courage to Heal Ellen Bass & Laura Davis Don't think there's much I can say about this book. Buy it. Read it.
The Courage to Heal Workbook Ellen Bass Useful exercises, writing, drawing, and questions to make you think. More directive than the book above.
Breaking Free Carolyn Ainscough, Kay Toon. Another "must" in my opinion. Practical exercises covering the whole of the healing process, lots of stories from survivors, and, best of all, they're from the UK, so there's no jarring americanisms!
The Obsidian Mirror and The Mother I Carry Louise Wisechild A wonderful wonderful read - her inner and outer journeys are illustrated through her characterising different aspects of herself.
She Who Was Lost Is Remembered - Healing from incest through creativity - Ed: Louise Wisechild Essays and poems and pictures by survivors. Inspiring.
The Memory Bird Edited by Caroline Malone Writings by survivors, grouped into themed chapters. A British book, in which I found plenty to identify with.
Voices in the Night - Women speaking about incest Ed:Toni McNaron & Yarrow Morgan Powerful survivors writings.
Reach for the Rainbow Lynne Finney Written as questions and answers. I have difficulty with the subtitle - "advanced healing", as I don't think there is such a thing. But there's good stuff in this book anyway.
Strong at the Broken Places Linda T. Sanford An excellent book, which debunks the myth that all survivors are destined for a life of therapy.
Anything by Alice Miller, especially Breaking Down the Wall of Silence , For Your Own Good , The Drama of Being a Child and Thou Shalt Not Be Aware . Hard reading but definitely worth getting to grips with. Food for thought, rather than fast food comfort.
The Armless Maiden , and other tales for childhood's survivors Ed Terri Windling A collection of poems and re-told fairy stories. Moving and intense reading.

Books on Dissociation/MPD/Voice Dialogue Work

For a more complete list, and more on the subject, the best place to start is at Astraea's Unorthodox Multiple Personality Resources. What follows is a list of books I've read and found helpful.

Alter Egos: Multiple Personalities David Cohen An interesting investigation by a journalist into the world of DID. Factual, and not driven by a "cause" to prove or disprove.

When Rabbit Howls The Troops for Trudi Chase Very triggery at times. Contains great descriptions of what it's like having two or more alters "sharing consciousness".

The Flock Joan Frances Casey Interesting description of the therapy process, written mainly by one person in a system who eventually integrated.

Broken Child Marcia Cameron This is actually a DIS-recommendation. I found this book dismissive, upsetting and totally unhelpful. Marcia was led by her therapist to believe that her dissociation was simply "regressing", and by staying adult, she would heal. Both she and her therapist are highly critical of households who decide not to integrate.

Embracing Our Selves and Embracing Your Inner Critic Hal and Sidra Stone The book which started my interest in the process of voice dialogue work. Great descriptions of the inner subpersonalities, and working with them.

Fiction for survivors

Bastard Out of Carolina and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Dorothy Allison Hard hitting description of poverty and abuse, and learning how to survive. Inspirational.

She's Come Undone Wally Lamb Despite being written by a man, this is a great story of rape and eating disorders, and not being victimised.

Stones from the River Ursula Hegi About being different... a book that sucks you in.

The Color Purple Alice Walker Miles better than the film. A classic, and great inspiration to keep on going.

Searching for Spring Patricia A Murphy Five sisters uncover a family history of incest. Lesbian content.

No More Secrets Nina Weinstein A story of a teenage girl telling of her abuse.

Escape June Oldham An excellent book, of an 18 year old's escape, both physical and psychological from incest.

Also a lot of the books from Oprah's Book Club deal with abuse, either directly or indirectly and are worth checking out. The table below are recommendations from Amazon, and will change each time the page is reloaded.

[Main Page][Survivors][Eating Disorders][Relaxing Reads][Children's]

Alter Egos: Multiple Personalities David Cohen An interesting investigation by a journalist into the world of DID. Factual, and not driven by a "cause" to prove or disprove.
When Rabbit Howls The Troops for Trudi Chase Very triggery at times. Contains great descriptions of what it's like having two or more alters "sharing consciousness".
The Flock Joan Frances Casey Interesting description of the therapy process, written mainly by one person in a system who eventually integrated.
Broken Child Marcia Cameron This is actually a DIS-recommendation. I found this book dismissive, upsetting and totally unhelpful. Marcia was led by her therapist to believe that her dissociation was simply "regressing", and by staying adult, she would heal. Both she and her therapist are highly critical of households who decide not to integrate.
Embracing Our Selves and Embracing Your Inner Critic Hal and Sidra Stone The book which started my interest in the process of voice dialogue work. Great descriptions of the inner subpersonalities, and working with them.

Bastard Out of Carolina and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Dorothy Allison Hard hitting description of poverty and abuse, and learning how to survive. Inspirational.
She's Come Undone Wally Lamb Despite being written by a man, this is a great story of rape and eating disorders, and not being victimised.
Stones from the River Ursula Hegi About being different... a book that sucks you in.
The Color Purple Alice Walker Miles better than the film. A classic, and great inspiration to keep on going.
Searching for Spring Patricia A Murphy Five sisters uncover a family history of incest. Lesbian content.
No More Secrets Nina Weinstein A story of a teenage girl telling of her abuse.
Escape June Oldham An excellent book, of an 18 year old's escape, both physical and psychological from incest.