What weapons do we have to defend ourselves against deeply hidden assaults from the past? Without the fragments of memory linked together into a full picture of our personal history, we may remain helpless victims.


Sex permeates Vernetta's traumatic young life while living with her single mother and older sister. The chaos of life with Mother and her alcohol-fueled anger emerges in Vernetta's adult years as a suicidal-depression that propels her into therapy where conflicted personality fragments introduce themselves. Within months, dissociated-forgotten memories of sexual trauma are manifested by severe, incapacitating physical experiences. However, through it all, Vernetta manages to continue her relationship with Mother.


After Mother's death, the picture of a stately house that Mother burned down at age fifteen motivates Vernetta's search for answers to lingering questions, her final pathway to wellness. Why did Mother deliberately burn down her family home? she asks herself. What is the truth of why baby brother Buddy was suddenly gone? Why was Mother so angry? Although the search plunges Vernetta into Mother's murky past, the difficult answers bring restorative healing.