I am so excited to announce that "Down the Rabbit Hole: A Memoir of Abuse, Addiction and Recovery" has won a B.R.A.G. medallion!
B.R.A.G. is a website that promotes the best self published books. Indie authors submit their books, which are passed on to readers who score it based on factors such as title, cover, characters, plot, dialogue, writing style, chapters, copy editing, content and formatting. Then they summarize and review it.
I am humbled to report that I received a perfect score and the following review:
This is a heart-rending story that deserves to be told. I couldn't put the book down and there were times when I wanted to weep for what the author went through. My goodness, I don't know how she survived but I am glad that she did and I applaud her for writing her story.
Kate Russell's vivid description of a child's life with abusive parents should be a classic of its kind, a guide to profiling abusive parents and a spur to rescuing suffering children. Reading Down the Rabbit Hole is a harrowing experience, but a necessary one if we are to help the most vulnerable people in our society and learn how to bring up future generations to be good parents. As the child of an alcoholic, abusive mother I found myself time and again seeing close parallels to my own experience. Clearly such parents follow an easily distinguishable pattern. One is left angry at a social system that does so little about it. We have a culture that encourages selfishness and self-gratification. Children so brought up are not surprisingly lacking the selflessness that is an essential factor in good parenting.
I was a bit overwhelmed by this Ms. Russell's story of her life to-date. She writes from the heart about a life that many others would have self-terminated long ago. The story is hard to read, ripe with pathos and poignancy but never self-pity. I commend her not only for her book but more importantly, for surviving the life it describes.
I am so flattered by this review that I cried when I read it. What a wonderful surprise to wake up to!
