Marion Witte was raised in a little house on the prairie, but her childhood was
nothing like the idyllic version of childhood made famous by Laura Ingalls.
Witte's story has its roots in immigrant grandparents who struggle to make
a living on the harsh Midwestern plains. Unbelievable hardship, alcoholism,
abuse and abandonment were the norm during her youth. Witte endured
punishments that had devastating emotional effects. She was often locked in
a dark, dirty cellar with the rats and mice, terrifed and too little to turn on
the light bulb that hung high above her.
As Witte retells the circumstances of her youth, it becomes clear that this
book is much more than a compelling story of childhood mistreatment. The
crux of her story maintains that once abuse stops, the psychological damage
lingers. Even as Witte graduated from college, became a CPA, and had her
own family, she knew that there were wounds to be healed. Witte takes the
reader on the journey she pursued to heal from the past, and the pitfalls and
successes of that process. Her honest and compassionate portrayal draws the
reader into an analysis of negative adult behaviors and why we may behave
in an emotionally immature manner. This is a book that connects the dots
between our childhood experiences, our current adult behavior and the way
we parent.
