Interweaving current observations with excerpts from journals she kept during the three years when the forgotten incidents of ritual abuse were surfacing, the author explores the nature of remembering, the thawing of experiences the psyche had kept in deep freeze, and the processes by which experience is transformed into memory.

An argumentative agnostic who unexpectedly finds in a Congregational minister a man who will walk by her side through the valley of the shadow, the author struggles and succeeds in growing a self large enough to hold all that she knows -- of the world, of herself -- without denial or despair.

A writer of remarkable descriptive powers, of both internal and external events, the author provides a valuable testimonial for anyone interested in the "repressed memory wars". Her sensitive story of recovery will give hope to many who have suffered severe trauma and to those who care about them.