Writer turned abuse secret to healing story

............................................................................................................................

viewing page: 1 | 2

"Journalists like to say that if something happens to three or four people, it's a trend, and there might be a story in there," she said. "So, I made it a story."

She went across the country, listening to stories of abuse and unraveling family dynamics. Most of all, she wanted to learn why people remained silent.

The answer: Fear.

"What if talking about it means the breadwinner has to leave?" she said. "What does this say about the wife, as a woman, if her husband is sleeping with her child? There's a fear that if you talk about it, the family won't still be a family. "But you will be a family. You'll just be a different one. A healthier one, where a child isn't sacrificed just to keep everybody together."

Stone said she's heard that 40 percent of social workers have been abused. That's because part of the healing process is to take action. First, victims must acknowledge what happens. Then, they have to understand the impact it's had on their psyches, and then they have to take action.

For Stone, action didn't mean confronting her abuser. She's worked through the shame, the pain, the need to feel perfect. And when the hardback book came out in April, she sent a copy of "No Secrets, No Lies" to her uncle in the mail.

She hasn't heard back.

viewing page: 1 | 2