Speak Gently

Book excerpt: Speak Gently is the story of a young girl from a wealthy New York family, growing up on a dairy farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her seemingly idyllic childhood shatters when her parents separate, and she and her brothers are kidnapped by their father, and then taken to a town in New Mexico called Santa Fe. The ensuing war between her parents creates deep wounds within the family. As tensions increase, she is shuffled off to a boarding school for children with special needs, the Anderson School, in Staatsburg, New York. Here she is forced to keep afloat in an environment where she feels she doesn't belong. Balancing humor and heartbreak, this moving memoir recounts a unique family history from the eyes of a teenage girl trying to come to terms with her life. A story about the traumatic effects of divorce and kidnapping, it highlights the human spirit to survive.