Telling : A Memoir of Rape and Recovery

"Patricia Francisco has done that rare thing; write with honesty about the act of evil and about her slow trudge to health in its aftermath. Her story is important for every woman to hear and every man to know. This book is impressive and very moving." — Louise Erdrich

In this intimate memoir, Patricia Weaver Francisco tells of her fifteen-year journey to recognize and overcome the effects of rape. Francisco explores key aspects of a women's life in the aftermath of rape—passion, marriage, solitude, childbirth, motherhood.

She invites the reader into her life and into the questions raised by a crime with no obvious solutions or easy answers. We see the dimensions of a human struggle often kept hidden from view. While there are millions of rape survivors in the United States, rape is still too often left out of our personal and cultural conversations. In Telling, Francisco has found a language for the secret grief carried by people who have survived rape.

Describing her fear during and after the rape in a visceral style, Francisco details her transformation of trauma into strength. This transformation begins by learning to talk about rape, to understand the resistance she encounters in herself and others.

She chronicles a complex journey and wrestles with spiritual despair, outrage, and a longing for justice. But with awareness comes the return of pleasure, hunger, and desire. She reminds us how "beautiful the dignity of truth can be" and inspires in us a desire to listen, to know the truths that can transform our own lives. She also gives us a clear portrait of the tragic consequences for the survivor—and our culture—when we neglect this human story.

Told with grace and a soul-stirring eloquence, Telling is, in the end, a form of power. It will leave you with a sense of hope and a renewed appreciation for life's possibilities. A compelling book, Telling will push the conversations that can bring hope and healing to the women who need it, and to their loved ones trying to help them.

Patricia Fransisco teaches creative writing in the MFA Program at Hamline University. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.