There’s not much to say except that you’ll keep Amy’s stories to yourself for a long time after reading. This is a brave memoir with authentic attention to detail. Amy’s writing is captivating, and I was in awe of the self-discovery work she does throughout. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I felt the authors authenticity, vulnerability and research while reading this book. CPTSD is so easily misunderstood and misdiagnosed. The author through the telling od her story is successful at explaining how CPTSD develops through ongoing anxiety, stress and trauma and how it impacted her carefully put together grownup life. I related very much to this book. Recommend!!! Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I expected this one to be a hard read, having some experience with what I suspect is complex-ptsd myself, and it was, but it was also intensely cathartic. The author Amy, has an incredible way of pulling you INTO the story, dragging you along with her every step, every betrayal, every realization, every moment of epiphany.

I did my honors exegesis on the concept of home through the lense of complex traumas and the visual arts, and so many of these moments, these references and lessons that Amy details hit notes both from an academic perspective, as well as a personal one. Though our experiences are vastly different, this book has done something that only my exegesis study has done for me before - it has held me and given me something to see myself within, the traumas AND the survival.

She pulls no punches, so please, read this with the knowledge that it is full of trigger warnings - but not a singular traumatic moment is misplaced, nor milked for the drama. Amy is matter of fact and yet intensely emotive in her writing and does a great balancing act of presenting the hardships she's been through and the work that she and her family, her therapists have been doing to unwind much of it.

If you're in the right place for it and ready to read about another persons experiences of neglect, parentification and homelessness and come out the other side with hope and a sense of survival, this one's for you.

A huge thanks to Amy Smythe Miller and Atmosphere Press for access though Netgalley to read this Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

Home by Amy Smyth Miller

In this memoir, the author takes us through her childhood, growing up with parents that were addicts, and what it was like for her. She is only able to do this, because she went through therapy in order to recover those memories. Her experiences are at times heart breaking, and at times heart warming. She tells of being hungry and homeless, being scared of losing the people she loved. She describes good times spent with her great grandmother in beautiful detail. Amy's story will resonate with those who have suffered through childhood trauma. She shares what she learned about how life events shape us, and how we can learn from them, and then learn to move forward. It is an insightful, moving book that has helped me to understand myself, and others in a new way. Heartfelt thanks to Amy for being brave, doing the work, and then sharing it.