My Memoir Synopsis

HAVING FINALLY BOILED DOWN MY 80,000 word memoir into a manageable 250 word back-cover hook, I'm presenting it to you. Major thanks to my publisher All Things That Matter Press and to all of you who have been so gracious and encouraging. I'm stretching my arms in a big, wide hug.

With a father’s violent temper and a mother’s senseless apathy, Grace Peterson braves the turbulence of childhood by embracing her adventurous love of the outdoors. Her rough-and-tumble scuffles with nature don’t always end well, however, and often heap more turmoil on her already shattered soul.

Following her parents’ brutal divorce, her mother relocates nine-year old Peterson and her siblings to rural Hawaii where as minorities, they are repeatedly threatened by the pervasive racial violence. Eventually banished by their mother and violent stepfather, Peterson and her sister forge independence when their father considers them an intrusion to his new bachelor lifestyle.

At nineteen, Peterson marries her high school sweetheart and experiences love for the first time. Together they discover a cautious sense of belonging in a fundamentalist Christian church. Soon however, Peterson is no longer able to contain the trauma of her past. Seeking a remedy from what she perceives as a spiritual problem, she enlists the help of Brock, a charismatic exorcist and cult expert. Shocked by his findings, she tumbles into a world of esoteric rituals, Luciferian doctrines and New World Order conspiracies.

Set in Hawaii and Oregon, this gripping narrative illustrates how children adapt to a hostile environment and stumble into adulthood while misreading their untreated traumas. And by searching for answers, they can become prey to unscrupulous charlatans who heap more damage onto an already wounded soul.

REACHING is a sobering, real-life tale of trauma, brainwashing and recovery narrated by a gutsy and resilient heroine.