Final Girl: And Other Essays on Grief Trauma and Mental Illness

From the INDIE-Gold-award-winning author of Sexism Ed comes a haunting mesmerizing and darkly funny memoir about mental illness poverty and inner strength.When Kelly J. Baker was two years old her mother fled Bakers abusive father. A custody arrangement left Baker behind the new target of his violence. But against all odds she escaped from the trailer park to college and graduate school. But the pain of her childhood remained buried deep.Final Girl is the story of Bakers journey from poverty to Ph.D. from trauma to therapy with all of the bumps along the way. Whether talking about parenthood finding a therapist moving back home to her small town or wrestling with the algae in an old swimming pool Final Girl reckons with what it takes to build a home in a place where you never thought youd find home again.If you enjoyed Tara Westovers Educated and Jeannette Wallss The Glass Castle you will love Final Girl.A haunting mesmerizing and darkly funny book. -Katie Rose Guest Pryal IPPY-Gold-winning author of Life of the Mind Interrupted