Like the best of memoir writing, My Invisible Scars is alternately brutally honest, sad, triumphant, tense, motivating, uncomfortable, and unforgettable. Relying on journals that she has kept since childhood, Canadian author Willa-Mae E. Scot articulately recounts in (mostly) chronological order the highs and lows of her long life, beginning with her early childhood in a small Saskatchewan town. Willa-Mae writes candidly about terrible disappointments, life-threatening ordeals, and her incredible and unwavering determination to put aside countless negative experiences, and live, embrace, and enjoy life to the fullest. This memoir is a must-read book for anyone whose life has been derailed by the unexpected loss of a loved one, violence, family break-up, infidelity, addictions, abandonment, or by poor, sometimes non-existent, choices. Those who have suffered through trauma and struggled to put that trauma behind them will see their journey reflected in these pages and be reassured that, even when down at rock bottom, they can find a way to be happy again. My Invisible Scars is instructive and inspiring, enlightening and engaging, and a great testament to its author’s tremendous courage and forthrightness. Most of all it is a testament to her enviable ability to offer forgiveness to the many people who have hurt her, and then gracefully move forward in life.

A NATIONAL BESTSELLER “This work is important and astonishing, but it is also a riveting read.” —Louise Penny, author of A World of Curiosities and the Inspector Gamache novels Behind the Beautiful Forevers meets Under an Afghan Sky in this mesmerizing true story of the Nigerian girls taken captive by the terrorist group Boko Haram In April 2014, the world awoke to the shocking news that the terrorist group Boko Haram had kidnapped nearly 300 school-aged girls and taken them deep into the forests of Nigeria. When veteran journalist Mellissa Fung travelled to Nigeria, she discovered that the scope of the kidnappings had been vastly under-reported. Hundreds—possibly thousands—more girls had been taken against their will and forced to become child brides to soldiers and leaders of Boko Haram. Some of the captives escaped and returned to their villages, many with children in tow. Most of these girls, still children themselves, were shunned by their former friends and family. Other girls have never been seen again. A former captive herself, Mellissa Fung has great empathy for the kidnapped girls. Taken by Taliban sympathizers in Afghanistan, Fung shared her experience in her number-one-bestselling book, Under an Afghan Sky: A Memoir of Captivity. During several visits to Nigeria over four years, she sat down with the girls and their families and conducted hundreds of hours of interviews, listening to horrific stories of capture, rape and torture, as well as escapes and excommunications. Fung tells the stories of Gambo, Asma’u, Zara and other girls taken by Boko Haram. She also portrays strong women fighting against the terrorist group in their own powerful ways: Aisha the Hunter, who moves stealthily into the forest, taking out Boko Haram with her faithful followers, and Mama Boko Haram, an Igbo woman who knows the fighters and those haunted by their experiences and fights to empty the forests of fighters and captives alike. This is raw, honest and heartbreaking storytelling at its best.

Poetry. Curves on a Sidewalk Street gathers together writing from San Francisco youth as part of WritersCorps, a national community service program created in 1994 which pairs practicing writers with schools, after-school programs, jails, shelters, community centers and other community based organizations. In the words of Rhodessa Jones, In these dark, dangerous, destructive days our children have become casualties, victims and victimers, in the streets, schools and at home.... These writings, these words should comfront us, yes, even soothe us, reassure us that our children are alive, ready, growing, struggling towards the light. The third such anthology to appear from San Francisco WritersCorps (all three available from SPD).