The Family Secret

‘Each time my mother laid a finger on me... it was another step into the jaws of hell. Her abuse, more so than any other, destroyed me. It was the ultimate betrayal.’

What you don't know can hurt you— but it can also lead to self-acceptance and healing. Family Secrets gives you the tools you need to understand your family—and yourself—in an entirely new way. In his bestselling books and compelling PBS specials, John Bradshaw has transformed our understanding of how we are shaped by our families. Now join him on this fascinating journey of discovery, which starts with your life today and takes you back through the conflicts, the strengths, and the weaknesses of your parents’ generation—and even your grandparents’. Using a powerful technique for exploring your “family tree,” you’ll trace the visible and invisible patterns that have influenced you. You’ll learn about family secrets that are healthy and necessary, and also about the secrets that can limit your wholeness and freedom—even if you don’t know they exist. This work is sometimes painful, but it is always enlightening—filled with the kind of “aha” moments and realizations that make everything fall into place. With John Bradshaw’s guidance, you will come to a new appreciation and acceptance of yourself. You will also be able to build more open, honest, and loving relationships with the people who matter most.

Named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best of 2021 List in Comics. 2021 Top of the List Graphic Novel Pick In the spirit of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Roz Chast’s Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Margaret Kimball’s AND NOW I SPILL THE FAMILY SECRETS begins in the aftermath of a tragedy. In 1988, when Kimball is only four years old, her mother attempts suicide on Mother’s Day—and this becomes one of many things Kimball’s family never speaks about. As she searches for answers nearly thirty years later, Kimball embarks on a thrilling visual journey into the secrets her family has kept for decades. Using old diary entries, hospital records, home videos, and other archives, Margaret pieces together a narrative map of her childhood—her mother’s bipolar disorder, her grandmother’s institutionalization, and her brother’s increasing struggles—in an attempt to understand what no one likes to talk about: the fractures in her family. Both a coming-of-age story about family dysfunction and a reflection on mental health, AND NOW I SPILL THE FAMILY SECRETS is funny, poignant, and deeply inspiring in its portrayal of what drives a family apart and what keeps them together.

Peter and Leslie's families have had beach houses near each other for years, so it seemed only natural when their friendship turned to romance. Their perfect summer romance is shattered when Leslie finds her mother's diary and discovers that her mother and Peter's father are having an affair and want to get married. Suddenly the two teens find themselves stepbrother and sister, and must learn to cope with their new lives and old friendship.

The father you never knew, has left behind a heartbreaking secret... June Westwood is devastated by the news the father she never met has died. Now the truth about why Jasper abandoned her as a child will be buried forever. Escaping to the secluded beach house she's inherited, June hopes to spend time bonding with her two little daughters, away from her hectic job and failing marriage. On the wild shores of the Pacific Northwest, her father's hideaway leaves June breathless. But it's his oil paintings decorating every wall that surprise her most. How could someone paint other people so beautifully, but reject those closest to him? And why is every drawer in her father's workshop locked? June hopes her new neighbor-her father's apprentice Caleb-will provide the answers. But Caleb won't talk about the past. Then, hidden in her father's workshop, June discovers a box of newspaper clippings that reveal the shocking reason why her father left years ago-and uncovers Caleb's own devastating secret... When her old life comes calling, June has an impossible decision to make. Unsure what's best for her girls, and if she can trust Caleb, will digging deeper into her father's dark past heal or destroy her precious family? An absolutely heartbreaking and emotional page-turner about the incredible strength of family bonds, how we can hurt those closest to us, and the healing power of love. Fans of Diane Chamberlain, Kerry Lonsdale and Kerry Fisher will devour this powerful read from award-winning author Melissa Wiesner.

Rarely do we find an honest account of incest in the news. Though it has long been taboo in almost every culture, and for sound biological reasons, the occurrences of incest continue in many families and communities. Having a rational conversation about it, however, is difficult to achieve. Do not expect lurid accounts of threats and torture and kinky S&M from this book. This story is told with names changed, from the point of view of the girl-a straightforward account of the relationship of father and daughter over nearly twenty years. As she grew into young adulthood, the father became protective, but not possessive. And the girl-becoming-woman began to understand her strengths, and to test them-eventually to break free, marry and have a productive life of her own. For most of the time, the relationship was a secret from the rest of the family, and certainly from the rest of the world. Eleanore Hill has chosen to stand up and proclaim herself a whole person of her own, and to share her experience publicly. Few have had the courage to do so, which makes this narrative especially valuable. In fact, when the book first came out in 1985, it garnered the Rhodora Prize, and was picked up by one of the major publishers, at a time when incest was scarcely talked about. These days, with digital publishing, many more writers have committed their stories to print, emboldened by Eleanore Hill's forthrightness with the "secret." Some publishers simply aim to titillate with the topic, hoping to benefit from prurient curiosity. For them, there will always be an audience. For the more serious-minded, this three-dimensional account of the topic brings it alive in a real sense, not as a cautionary tale or a scold, but to see, as it were, behind the headlines, as a human story that needs to be told, and told with integrity.

Painting a vivid picture of the pivotal case that broke apart a Chicago mob family, this narrative relies on court transcripts, police records, interviews, and notes to recreate the story as it unfolded in a 2007 courtroom.