To Be Brave: A Memoir of Domestic Violence, Resistance, and Healing

Three women, two generations, one family-a story of trauma, resistance, healing, and love



In 1959, in Garrison, Minnesota, a twenty-six-year-old woman shot and killed her abusive husband. A few years earlier, her sister had fled with her young daughter from Texas to Minnesota to escape a man who threatened to kill her, her child, and her entire family.

To Be Brave tells the story of how one Minnesota farm family experienced domestic violence and found a way to heal. To write it, Karla McGray had to unearth family secrets, acknowledge the courage asserted by her mother and aunt, and explore the lifelong impact of traumatic events.

This grace-filled story offers hope to individuals and families who live with domestic violence.