Women we buried, women we burned A memoir

Journalist Snyder (No Visible Bruises) offers a penetrating memoir on grief and redemption. After her mother died when Snyder was eight years old, her father moved the family from Pennsylvania to Illinois, where he married a woman he met at an evangelical church. Snyder recounts her difficulty adjusting to her new life, highlighting the constant bickering between her, her brother, and their stepsiblings. The oppressive rules of evangelicalism, though, proved to be the hardest adjustment of all: "Cancer took my mother. But religion would take my life," she writes. Eventually, Snyder's teenage rebellion against religious strictures got her expelled from school and kicked out of her house. At age 16, she slept on friends' couches and worked odd jobs while studying for her GED. In college, a study abroad trip sparked a lifelong love of travel, and Snyder became an international journalist, reporting on violence against women. Once she returned to the U.S., she and her father took unsteady steps toward reconciliation. Snyder delivers her inspiring story with lyrical prose and sharp insights, particularly about the fraught father-daughter relationship at its center. It's an eloquent portrayal of the power of forgiveness. Agent: Susan Ramer, Don Congdon & Assoc. (May)

The propulsive, forceful account of a young woman making her way against the odds. Snyder, a professor of creative writing and journalism and the author of No Visible Bruises, a groundbreaking book on domestic violence, shares her own riveting story. The author lost her mother at age 8, and her grieving father threw her into an Evangelical stepfamily that operated with strict hierarchy, control, and violence. "Cancer took my mother," writes Snyder. "But religion would take my life." Now known for her extraordinary work as a far-flung journalist (in "Tibet, Nepal, India, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Laos, Cuba, Belize, Romania," among other locales), as a teenager, the author abused drugs and failed out of high school after compiling "a combined GPA of 0.467." The tenacity and bravery of a young woman determined to survive and make her own mark on the world move the narrative with unstoppable force as the sentences build in intensity and poignancy. This chronicle of her journey from a troubled teen to globally recognized journalist and new mother is nearly impossible to put down. Most admirably, for all the failings of the adults in her life, Snyder manages the incredible feat of forgiveness. Without downplaying her frank depictions of abuse and neglect, she conveys as much hope as suffering, demonstrating "the bottomless capacity for both human cruelty and human survival." Writing with a highly effective mixture of distance, reflection, and compassion, the author never loses a palpable sense of immediacy. She has the ability to bring readers to her side, experiencing her life every step of the way. Her astonishing resilience and strength are front and center in her powerful, beautifully rendered prose, which describes her odyssey to "create a life in which I had something to lose." Anyone moved by No Visible Bruises should put this at the top of their to-read list. Exceptional writing, a harrowing coming-of-age story, and critical awareness combine to make a must-read memoir. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.