The Tell by Amy Griffin

 

Amy Griffin had what most people would consider a successful life.  She was married to a man who loved her and they had four healthy children.  They lived in Manhattan and money was not an issue.  Amy had a thriving career and got up every morning to run in Central Park at five a.m.  But something was wrong.

Amy grew up in Amarillo, Texas.  She was the golden girl at school, always the top achiever in grades, captains on her sports teams.  She was popular and everyone liked or admired her.  But somehow she has no memories of that time.

After entering therapy after her two daughters confided to her that they felt like Amy wasn't there emotionally for them but had a wall constructed, Amy had a breakthrough.  She suddenly starting remembering things that happened to her in middle school starting when she was twelve.  She was abused for several years by a coach at her school.  He raped her in various ways always on school grounds until she left middle school and even once when she was sixteen.  He was still there and who knows how many girls he had abused before and after.

Amy went on a campaign to have him held accountable legally.  She also started to confide her truth to various people, starting with her husband and continuing with her sister and other siblings, her own children and her parents.  Each was shocked and felt anger and guilt that they hadn't seen anything, hadn't known anything was wrong.  The golden girl was also the best at stuffing down trauma and hiding everything.

Statistics show that sexual abuse of girls is a huge problem.  Some statistics show that one in four girls is sexually assaulted before she is 18 while others show one in nine.  Regardless, it's a rare woman who can't look back to an instance where a man's hands roamed over her body up to violent assault that has long lasting effects.  Girls who are routinely abused find it hard to form trusting relationships as adults as their abuser was likely a coach, a teacher, a relative, someone in their family's circle of trust.  A man who abuses one girl rarely stops there as the more common pattern is serial abuse of many girls.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers, especially parents and those women who may have experienced this abuse.