Seventeen Guardian Angels

A young girl growing up in a U.S. military family has a mother whose treatment ranges from demeaning to abusive. The struggles finally take their toll: she is confronted with a serious depression and can no longer find the will to go on living. In this memoir Cynthia pays tribute to seventeen of those people who were there at the right time to intervene, protect, extend kindness, offer friendship, psychologically treat, psychiatrically hospitalize, and guide spiritually. Each chapter relates the story of a guardian angel who met her needs at a certain phase of her life, from a nine year old girl who first experienced child abuse, to a college student who needed psychological counseling, to a mother who needed psychiatric hospitalization, to a grandmother who was faced with the long term effects of surviving child abuse. The writing is simple and allows the reader to walk in her shoes. Her compelling testimony can enlighten doctors, counselors, parents, and encourage people who struggle with the effects of child abuse.