Ila Hall chronicles her life with wit, wisdom, poignancy, and joy. “I don’t want no cripple for a daughter.” Her father’s words, harshly spoken to seven-year-old Ila after an accident in her own backyard, haunted her for years, yet his inability to accept her weakness turned out to be a blessing in disguise. In an effort to prove her worthiness, young Ila learned to walk and even, secretly, to run again. Those first defiant steps produced a lifelong inner strength she needed all too often–as an athlete, a wife and mother, and a unique person who knew she deserved to pursue her dreams. In this tender, unflinching memoir, Ila Hall eventually shakes free from her submissive, abused childhood to become a confident adult who knows her metaphorical zebra stripes–which often run contrary to the norm–are beautiful, unique, and worthy of unconditional love.

What woman hasn’t wished she could erase painful life events, challenging circumstances, and haunting memories? What if instead of wishing, the past could be erased, every woman looked for the redemption on that path? Patricia Bonelli s Owning Patricia is a true life story of a grown woman retracing her youthful missteps into darkness. Bonelli’s purpose of revisiting her story is to own her history in order to command her life in the present. Her narrative provides inspiration for anyone who dares to illuminate a less than pristine past. Bonelli writes, “By the age of 12, I found myself left to my own devices. With no sense of who I was or how I would provide for myself, I chose a series of degrading and desperate corridors to walk through. Life as an out-of-control runaway living on the streets paved the way to prostitution and entrapment. I had a seventh-grade education, and the only way I knew how to make money was on my back.” Bonelli believed she’d been rescued when she became the domestic partner of a drug runner. But by age 23, Bonelli was a single mother of three, requiring refuge in the Witness Protection Program. As Bonelli tells her tale of transcending her early circumstances to leading a rewarding life and successful career in law enforcement, becoming the mother to her children that was never modeled for her, readers witness the unstoppable determination of a woman proving her worth and prioritizing her work on behalf of others, while learning to love herself first.

Women are no strangers to confronting challenges and overcoming obstacles in their lives. From climbing out of acute poverty to raising children alone with a husband off at war to recovering from a failed business to escaping from under the thumb of an abusive relationship, this book explores the myriad of ways in which women find the means to conquer situations that threaten to destroy their lives. The stories that Mackey tells reveal an intimate look at twelve women who have all faced seemingly insurmountable circumstances, risen to the challenge, and navigated their way with enduring courage to successful and healthy lives. Women of all ages, ethnicities, religions and backgrounds will be able to identify a part of themselves within Women Navigating Adversity, an extraordinary book.

Visit:  www.mackeygroup.com/books.html

At a very young age, Marcia Breece came face to face with a disconcerting truth that would haunt her for decades. Because she was a girl, she would be molded to fulfill a role that had long been defined for her: to be obedient, coy, and self-effacing,  forever secondary to men. The free-spirited, independent nature Marcia demonstrated as a child slowly eroded, unable to overcome the powerful influence of societal expectations and the autocratic rule of the men in her life. Like most women of the time, Marcia dutifully succumbed to what she came to think of as Training to be just a girl. She married, had two children, and became the typical helpmate to a patriarchal husband. And yet she could never quite silence a nagging inner voice that said life could offer her so much more than a supporting role. Finding This Place beautifully recounts Marcia’s remarkable journey as she breaks the chains of Training and struggles to find the person within. It is a story that will inspire both women and men to follow one’s own path no matter how bumpy, and inevitably arrive at that place that is uniquely their own.
Visit: www.marciabreece.com

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