“In her stunning memoir, Jill Root takes us on a journey through dark hallways of remembering and then healing the aftermaths of childhood abuse. To my colleagues who pathologize what we call ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder,’ and to the ones who deny its existence at all, take heed. This book is a game changer.”—TINA CARLSON, Clinical Nurse Specialist, Psychiatry, Author of Ground, Wind, This Body

In a remarkable memoir that reads like a novel, Jill Root’s mind shattered without warning one morning, and a strange child’s voice crashed like a stone through the surface of her apparently normal life. Beneath that surface lay an abyss of confusion and denial that ripped Jill’s consciousness into unrecognizable pieces that would take years of work with three very different therapists to reassemble.

The mystery of her symptoms unfolds layer by layer, along with her struggle to accept a reality quite different from the idyllic childhood she had believed in. Dialogues with her charismatic father and emotionally distant mother create portraits of denial, and actual transcriptions of therapy sessions provide unique insight into the process of healing. This book will give reassurance and hope to survivors of trauma, and guidance to the partners and mental health professionals who struggle to help them.

For forty years Jill Root was an editor and publications manager for environmental consulting firms, government contractors, and academic publishers. She is the author of several nonfiction books and is enjoying a busy retirement near her children and grandchildren in a Northern California suburb with her husband and her English Labrador Retriever.