The Incest Diary

Nonfiction, Family & Relationships, Family Relationships, Abuse, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book The Incest Diary by Anonymous, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Anonymous ISBN: 9780374716493
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: July 18, 2017
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: Anonymous
ISBN: 9780374716493
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: July 18, 2017
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be: horrified by their father’s sexual advances. They do everything in their power to escape. But I didn’t. A child can’t escape. And later, when I could, it was too late.”

Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the anonymous author of The Incest Diary was raped by her father. Beneath a veneer of normal family life, she grew up in and around this all-encompassing secret. Her sexual relationship with her father lasted, off and on, into her twenties. It formed her world, and it formed her deepest fears and desires. Even after she broke away—even as she grew into an independent and adventurous young woman—she continued to seek out new versions of the violence, submission, and secrecy she had struggled to leave behind.

In this graphic and harrowing memoir, the author revisits her early traumas and their aftermath—not from a clinical distance, but from deep within—to explore the ways in which her father’s abuse shaped her, and still does. As a matter of psychic survival, she became both a sexual object and a detached observer, a dutiful daughter and the protector of a dirty secret. And then, years later, she made herself write it down.

With lyric concision, in vignettes of almost unbearable intensity, this writer tells a story that is shocking but that will ring true to many other survivors of abuse. It has never been faced so directly on the page.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“In the fairy tales about father–daughter incest—‘The Girl Without Hands,’ ‘Thousand Furs,’ the original ‘Cinderella,’ ‘Donkey Skin,’ and the stories of Saint Dymphna, patron saint of incest survivors—the daughters are all as you would expect them to be: horrified by their father’s sexual advances. They do everything in their power to escape. But I didn’t. A child can’t escape. And later, when I could, it was too late.”

Throughout her childhood and adolescence, the anonymous author of The Incest Diary was raped by her father. Beneath a veneer of normal family life, she grew up in and around this all-encompassing secret. Her sexual relationship with her father lasted, off and on, into her twenties. It formed her world, and it formed her deepest fears and desires. Even after she broke away—even as she grew into an independent and adventurous young woman—she continued to seek out new versions of the violence, submission, and secrecy she had struggled to leave behind.

In this graphic and harrowing memoir, the author revisits her early traumas and their aftermath—not from a clinical distance, but from deep within—to explore the ways in which her father’s abuse shaped her, and still does. As a matter of psychic survival, she became both a sexual object and a detached observer, a dutiful daughter and the protector of a dirty secret. And then, years later, she made herself write it down.

With lyric concision, in vignettes of almost unbearable intensity, this writer tells a story that is shocking but that will ring true to many other survivors of abuse. It has never been faced so directly on the page.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book A Grace Paley Reader by Anonymous
Cover of the book The Odd Woman and the City by Anonymous
Cover of the book Being Dead by Anonymous
Cover of the book Fugitives by Anonymous
Cover of the book Yellow & Pink by Anonymous
Cover of the book The Big Sea by Anonymous
Cover of the book Selected Poems 1968-2014 by Anonymous
Cover of the book Poems 1962-2012 by Anonymous
Cover of the book Sparta by Anonymous
Cover of the book The Afterlife by Anonymous
Cover of the book Walkable City by Anonymous
Cover of the book The Anatomy Lesson by Anonymous
Cover of the book Alphabet Juice by Anonymous
Cover of the book Absence by Anonymous
Cover of the book Here Lies Hugh Glass by Anonymous
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy