Looking for non fiction and memoirs about childhood trauma? Any recommendations? Anything on the topic really.
Looking for non fiction and memoirs about childhood trauma? Any recommendations? Anything on the topic really.
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Glass Castle of course, plus Etched in Sand by Regina Calcaterra
I second Glass Castle.
Following ?
Educated, The Glass Castle
Sickened by Julie Gregory
Turning Stones: My days and nights with children at risk by Marc parent, A Child Called it, Breaking Night (what the movie homeless from Harvard is based on) by Liz Murray. The Freedom Writers though not specifically about child trauma shares the stories of young people some of whom face trauma day to day—Also not a morbid person here…, I am a Social Worker with a degree in Social Work some of these books I read as part of school curriculum.
a child called it
also if you want something unconventionally horrifying, try ‘my lobotomy: a memoir’ by howard dully
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk,
The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog by Bruce Perry, &
It Didn’t Start With You by Mark Wolynn
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. It’s about how he became a child soldier in the Sierra Leone civil war. It’s beautifully written and worth reading.
Thank you for all of your wonderful suggestions! I am looking at these stories as a way to cope with my own adverse childhood. I think reading some of them might help me to feel at peace, or not alone at least, and maybe learn a little more than I’ve been able to on my own.
A lot of memoirs that concern former members of religious cults talk about childhood trauma, which might be another direction you can explore. I hope you find the answers you’re looking for!
Hillbilly Elegy
I highly recommend The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir
The Chinese Cinderella and (related to it) Falling Leaves
Jesus Land A Memior By Julia Scheeres. It was so captivating I couldnt put it down
I’ve been recommending this a lot lately but Educated by Tara Westover.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe. I don’t know if it qualifies as childhood trauma, but Lowe’s upbringing was certainly screwed up.
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park. It’s a memoir by a girl who grew up in North Korea and escaped with her mother when she was 13. A hard read but very very good.
A Child Called “It” (Dave Pelzer, #1)