The Downward Climb

The Downward Climb is rare exposure of raw reality that at times is appalling and traumatic, depressing and confusing. Alongside sadness and anger, you will find compassion, goodness, wisdom, happiness, and above all, immeasurable hope. It is about the suffocation of personal identity in the experience of serial infidelity and the attending emotional abuse kept secret and buried for 40 years. It is extraordinarily personal, yet many will identify with it and find extraordinary relief."I told Mary her story was one of the most unusual and painful stories I ever heard. I have never known a client who worked so intensely beyond each session to maximize her own healing and spiritual growth. She is truly an inspiration to all women who have lost their identity and have been victims of abuse. She wrote her story to help heal herself; and she opens her heart to the many others who are suffering alienation from self and others, so they too can heal. Mary took great risk to come out with her story, but I know that she did so out of an earnest desire for Christians to be able to come forward on this issue and any issue of shame, whether they are the victim or perpetrator." Dr. Beth Johnson"Banker Harpt's dedication is nothing short of Herculean in this memoir; she never flinches from raw emotion as she deeply examines her marriage and her ex-husband, as well as the part she played in her own pain and the secrets she kept even from family and friends. She delves into memories that others might be afraid to face, and her reflections show her faith in God and her willingness to fight for her right to 'be known.' . . . Although her prayers and reflections add to this memoir's power, it's the story that matters most." Kirkus Reviews"I want us to see the way out, to embrace the importance of being known, and to never forfeit ourselves again. I want us to understand why we hang on to our pain and to comprehend what the process of forgiveness looks like when we have never heard the words, I am sorry. There is a way to go beyond survival of a wounded past." Mary Banker Harpt