Fire of the Five Hearts

by Holly A. Smith, Charles R. Figley (Foreword)

This book is about the influence of twenty years of work in the field of incest on a therapist's professional and personal life. It is comprised of individual cases, and touches upon topics including spirituality, sex between siblings, counter-transference, and incest teams. The author shares, in unadulterated prose, her experience as an incest therapist. This important, courageous work touches upon issues important to and resonant for mental health professionals treating incest and sexual abuse as well as the incest survivor or survivor's family member.

Genres: Memoir, Psychology, Nonfiction

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbing and enlightening, Holly Smith details her work with incested youth during her career as a caseworker. Deeply upsetting with some stories that wrench your gut as well as stories that make you feel for all caseworkers as Holly deals with thoughts that the world punishes her for her work (her miscarriage was a result of all of the children she "tore" away from their mothers) or that another caseworker's cancer was caused by years of the tortured work of dealing with victims of incest.

I'm not sure I can truly review or describe the memoir other than to say that it is raw and no-holds-barred about work along these lines and is comparable to watch Law and Order: SVU. You would never want to be them but are secretly grateful that they're doing this work to save victims of heinous crimes.

[Annie Feng · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always said that a memoir is a therapist's therapy, and this is a stellar example of that. She exposed her heart and soul, narrating the past 20 years filled with daily horrors and acquaintances with unspeakably dark corners of humanity. It's a wonderful book, but very ruminating and less impactful. I guess rumination and reflection is what the author needs.

I've also firmly held the belief that jobs are like relationships - there isn't the "best" one for everybody, but you have to love the one you're stuck with. This particular author though, she is not in love. The entire book reeks of an abusive relationship. A relationship where she keeps coming back for...what? Morbid fascination? The paycheck? I don't know, but the job is eating her alive. She empathizes more than she sympathizes, and I just want to give her a big hug.

The book has editing and grammatical errors, which just highlights how gut retching the content is, and makes the reader appreciate how much she had to put up with, living through the horrors. I thank her for sharing her wisdom, and letting so many people listen to her voice.

[Anurag Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

truly highlight the sufferings and offer remedies that though not very easy to follow surely will bring positive results.

[Bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done and gripping.

[Tiffany Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book of 2021 thus far. Passionate and poetic, raw and disturbing, this book is artfully written with more skill than most fiction I’ve read, only this book is a non-fiction account of a social worker who works to save children of incest.

The problem with most books like this is they are dry accounts of facts and statistics, mixed in with some personal accounts. Not so with Holly A. Smith. She takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions in her stream of consciousness as her soul bears the pain of her work. Her intelligence is impressive, and you’ll find yourself looking up to her on so many levels.

With no agenda—only her desire to tell her story, you’ll fall in love with this writing and Holly Smith just as a person. A true mentor, she makes me a better person and social worker. Every social worker should read this book!

[Mindy Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book

[Kells Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. The cases in it are brutal to read but I had that thought going in. What I find maybe a little distracting is Holly herself who alternates between seeming really privileged (she mentions her row of rubies and diamonds a lot, whether in contrast to the poorness of others or what, I don't know) and her disbelief that she could be suffering from clinical anything was kind of odd to me. I understand wanting to do homeopathic remedies (I personally don't, but I get it) but she seems irresponsible to me in regards to caring for a family of her own. If you're that traumatized (and rightfully so) than perhaps you need to do more than just see a therapist. Talk therapy is a very helpful tool, but she puts undue stress on her family, and most importantly, herself by refusing to consider the possibility of diagnosis for what she seems to suffer. Having GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) myself I can see the signs in her. She may even have PTSD.

That being said, Holly does have quite a few insights and there were times I was pretty wrecked/moved by what she said (I am a survivor of incest and wish I had this kind of adovocate when I was younger) and her frank speech on the topic was very interesting from a psychological point of view. I think this should be required reading for anyone going into social work, work with children, and/or clinical therapy.