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A Memoir
by Maria de Lourdes Trautman Mrs.
She grew up thinking she deserved neglect. Can a young girl escape a loveless home to seize elusive peace?
Portugal. As a baby, Maria Trautman was abandoned at birth by her mother and was raised by her adoring grandmother. But when her grandmother passed away, the distressed child was sent to live with her cruel and cold-hearted mother.
After enduring years of physical and emotional attacks, Maria built up the courage to leave her country and emigrated to Canada to seek sanctuary with her aunt. But when her uncle continued the very abuse she was so desperate to stop, Maria feared she would be forever trapped in a never-ending cycle of violence.
In a passionate true account exposing unimaginably damaging upheavals, this heartfelt narrative follows Maria's entry to adulthood and her quest to find one thing that always evaded her: happiness. And through vivid recollection of her own daunting challenges and tragic memories, Maria creates a beautiful tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
Discover the poignant truth of a courageous woman seeking healing through tremendous faith and forgiveness.
If you like moving personal accounts, testaments of perseverance and powerful journeys, then you'll love Maria Trautman's memoir. Follow her heart wrenching story as she goes from suffering to living in happiness in her shocking memoir, After All... .
"Prepare yourself for the harsh reality of this book. The raw anguish, the struggles, and strife. After all.. It just might be worth every heartbreaking moment." —Literary Titan
This information about After All ... was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Maria started her journey as an author when she rediscovered and read, the many diaries she kept as a child and young adult, which had been stored in a corner of a dark closet. In these diaries, she identified many things that others might benefit from hearing. She wrote Dark of the Moon in 2006 but after publishing it, she realized she had not been ready to tell all. She wrote about the mental and physical abuse she endured while living with her mother and that brought on some relief, but her soul was still troubled and the nightmares were still occurring. A few years later, she realized that in order to have some peace, she had to rewrite the book and this time, she would not leave anything out. She was ready to be free and perhaps along the way, she hoped that by sharing her difficult past might help other victims of child sexual abuse. As she began After All..., the pain of her childhood surfaced with such intensity that she felt mentally and physically drained, as if she had fallen into a black hole. Climbing out was a difficult process but the catharsis at the end of the journey made the pain worthwhile. She hopes that others will benefit from learning that even against all odds an individual's spirit can lead them to a better place. Today, Maria has a happy life with love, family and personal contentment. She lives in southern Ontario with her husband Dan and their dog Bailey.
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