Some Bright Morning, I'll Fly Away

Starred review from August 1, 2017
Anderson is a survivor. When she's gravely injured in a motorcycle accident, she remakes herself into a fashion model. When she's sexually abused by her father, she expresses her pain in poetry. And when she's physically and emotionally abused by her husband, a respected doctor, she fights back. In this courageous memoir, Anderson's life in Mississippi is turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina. Although her house is one of the few that remain standing, her marriage is finally over. Her husband (who suffers from OCD and alcoholism) has become increasingly demanding, and her struggle to keep peace and protect her three children ends in a devastating beating. She files for divorce and custody of the children and then settles in for a long battle. Anderson is brutally honest in her depiction of the abuse she hid for years behind her proper southern-wife facade and upfront about the obstacles she faces in the courts as she tries to prove that her husband is dangerous. She also expresses her yearning to reclaim herself through her work. Anderson is a gifted writer who vividly describes both settings and emotions. Her powerful story gives voice and hope to women caught in similarly terrible conditions.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)