A Flower in the Snow

A victim of rape QuYahnis mother conceived her two years into her marriage to Louis Bell who kept the family secret gave QuYahni his surname and raised her as his own. After his murder in 1973 the seed of sexual deviance planted by her biological father followed her throughout her childhood acting as a magnet to incestuous family members and neighborhood molesters; misshaping her identity and paving the way to a life of promiscuity and instability. A Flower In the Snow accounts one small part of QuYahnis journey; sharing journal entries that unfold her victory over adult symptoms of childhood sexual abuse and poems that glimmer with hope perseverance and faith.