Boot Language: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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Description

From the outside, Vanyas childhood looked idyllic

WINNER, 2019 Next Generation Indie Books (Memoir: Overcoming Adversity)

She rode horses with her father in the solitude of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and attended flamboyant operas with her mother in the city. But life for Vanya and her family turned dark when ghosts from her fathers service on a Pacific destroyer in World War II tore her family apart.

Set in postwar California, this is the story of a girl who tried to make sense of her parents unpredictable actionsfrom being left to lie in her own blood-soaked diaper while her Christian Scientist mother prayed, to refusing to get medical help while watching her father writhe on his bed in the detox ward, his hands and feet tethered with leather strapsby immersing herself in the beauty and solitude of the wilderness around her.

It was only decades later when memories began to haunt her, that Vanya was able to look back with unflinching honesty and tender compassion for her family and herself.

Boot Language shines a light in the darkness so that others can find their way

This spellbinding memoir offers encouragement and hope to those who are:

• in a dysfunctional family,
• experiencing or navigating emotional abuse,
• in a relationship with an abused partner or child, or
• simply looking to find happiness in spite of their past.

Ericksons story shines a light in the darkness so that others can find their way to heal the past. In this elegant, haunting narrative, she invites us to witness it allfrom the gripping, often disturbing, truths of her childhood to her ultimate survival.

Boot Language uplifts the reader with the knowledge that it is your responses to lifes adverse circumstances that make all the difference; and that by facing your past you can find the inner strength to permanently discover that you can transform your life.

While Ericksons memories would never completely disappear, they no longer held her in their grip. They have importance. They became an integral part of her life, leading her to become a successful teacher, author, and speaker, helping countless women and teens come to terms with their past.

Order your copy today and begin reading this disturbing, heartbreaking, and ultimately inspiring memoir.

Reviews

SILVER MEDAL WINNER, 2019 Readers' Favorite Awards, Nonfiction (Memoir) WINNER, 2019 Next Generation Indie Books (Memoir: Overcoming Adversity) SILVER MEDAL, 2019 IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, Best New Voice (Nonfiction) FINALIST 2019 International Book Awards, Non-Fiction Narrative FINALIST, 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards (for Memoir and Regional Nonfiction: The West)

"Overall, the author vividly captures her parents in this memoir, paying special attention to telling how her father's volatility created heart-pounding anxiety. . .There's particular poignancy in later chapters. . ."
Kirkus Reviews

"Vanya seamlessly weaves tension and lyrical beauty into every scene, playing my emotions as a reader perfectly. The result is a fantastic read. Buy this book today."
Laura Davis, best-selling author of The Courage to Heal

"It's always a supreme pleasure to be shaken by the emotional earthquake of a master storyteller. Vanya Erickson is an original."
Susan Brown, PhD, publishing James Joyce scholar and writing coach

"A young girl's loyalty and love are tested to the extreme by her abusive alcoholic father and a distant Christian Scientist mother. A coming-of-age story for anyone who has ever looked for love in all the wrong places."
Nancy London, best-selling coauthor of Our Bodies, Ourselves

Author Bio

Vanya Erickson used to photograph and haul horses for a living. For the last twenty-five years she has been mentoring teachers while teaching writing and public speaking in the oldest continuously used schoolhouse in California. She loves hiking the High Sierras and coastal redwood forests, as well as dramatically reading aloud to childrenespecially her granddaughter and grandniece. Erickson holds a BA in comparative literature and a teaching credential from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Her essays have appeared in a dozen literary journals and anthologies, and in the book The Magic of Memoir. Find out more about her at www.vanyaerickson.com.