Torn Back and Raw: An Intimate Portrayal of a Life Hijacked by Mental Illness

Torn Back and Raw is a true account of a young woman’s epic journey of tragedy, tenacity, and survival.
Johanna’s propensity for riding and racing motorcycles from a very young age saved her life. Motorcycles gave her life purpose, meaning, and sanctuary from a chaotic and volatile alcoholic home environment.
This is a very transparent depiction of the problems and struggles created in Johanna’s life as a result of the trauma she experienced as a child. Challenges that ultimately threatened her very existence.
Johanna’s need to share her story came on the heels of finally understanding, after forty years, the toll mental illness had taken on her life, undermining her relationships and her ability to keep a job and support herself—and what a devastating reality that has been.
With vivid honesty, Johanna takes the reader on a crazy journey to places never before explored. From the inside out, Torn Back and Raw runs the full gamut of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and bizarre stories, leaving readers scratching their heads, wondering how someone with so much skill and potential could end up so broken, ineffectual and defeated?

Johanna Stenersen lives in the small town of Auburn, in Northern California. This is her first and only book. You can reach her at jstenersen2@gmail.com or find her on Facebook.