Michele Phoenix | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

Shelby's life isn't glamorous, but it is predictable -- and that's the way she likes it. A survivor of her father's violence, she has spent a lifetime creating a safe existence devoid of dependence. But her carefully managed world begins to fracture when, under staggering circumstances, she becomes a single mother to four-year old Shayla. In a drastic attempt to escape her childhood's influence, Shelby moves to Germany, but she quickly discovers how intimately linked memory and healing are -- and how honestly she must scrutinize her past in order to aspire to a richer future. As she juggles a new job, a new culture, a new daughter, and the attentions of an enterprising man, Shelby's fresh start becomes a quest for the courage to be not only a survivor, but a prevailer. The story unfolds simultaneously in the present and the past and is alive with deeply human characters, as winsome as they are flawed. Told from Shelbys unflinching and candid point of view, Shards of Shell is a witty, yet profoundly affecting novel about the ravages of abuse and the aftermath of survival. For further information: www.michelephoenix.com