At the Tender Age

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>A powerful and unflinching story of survival resilience and the courage to break the silence.</strong></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Tess has spent her entire life walking on eggshells. At home she is a </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>shadow</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> trying to stay out of the way trying to endure. No one sees the bruises that never quite fade the scars hidden beneath her clothes or the way fear coils in her stomach every time she hears </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>JJ's footsteps</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>At school she's the troublemaker the problem child-</span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>too loud too restless too much</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>. Ms. Walker her strict teacher sees Tess as nothing more than a disruption. The whispers follow her: </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Ugly Tess. Weird Tess.</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> But no one asks why she lashes out why she refuses to sit still why she </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>roars like an animal</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> just to drown out the hurt.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>No one sees her.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Until one day she lets the truth slip.</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>With a single sentence </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>everything changes</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>. Suddenly the world Tess has known-the world she has endured-begins to crack open. But speaking the truth doesn't come without consequences. Will anyone believe her? Will she be strong enough to step into the unknown to fight for herself even when it feels impossible?</span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Heart-wrenching and deeply moving </span><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>At the Tender Age of Five</strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> is a gripping tale of a young girl's fight for freedom the scars that linger long after the bruises fade and the hope that-even in the darkest moments-there is a way out.</span></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)><em>For readers of powerful emotional and survivor-driven novels like</em></strong><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>A Child Called It and The Glass Castle</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>.</span></p><p></p><p></p>