In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old–playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places.But even her imagination can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma. As the big sister, Carrie is determined to do anything to keep Emma safe from a life of neglect and abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather, Richard–abuse their momma can't seem to see, let alone stop.But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn–and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.
In many ways, Carrie Parker is like any other eight-year-old–playing make-believe, dreading school, dreaming of faraway places.But even her imagination can't shut out the realities of her impoverished North Carolina home or help her protect her younger sister, Emma. As the big sister, Carrie is determined to do anything to keep Emma safe from a life of neglect and abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather, Richard–abuse their momma can't seem to see, let alone stop.But after the sisters' plan to run away from home unravels, their world takes a shocking turn–and one shattering moment ultimately reveals a truth that leaves everyone reeling.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Me & Emmacomes one woman’s unforgettable story about what it is to lose controlas the world watches, and to figure out what went so very wrong.While breaking the hottest news story of the year, broadcast journalist Isabel Murphy falls apart on live television in front of an audience of millions. She lands at Three Breezes, a four-star psychiatric hospital nicknamed the “nut hut,” where she begins the painful process of recovering the life everyone thought she had.But accepting her place among her fellow patients proves difficult, and Isabel struggles to reconcile the fact that she is, indeed, one of them. As she faces the reality that in order to mend her painfully fractured life she must rely solely on herself, she must also accept an imperfect life in a world that demands perfection.