Christine McAteer is a writer who makes you see the stars twinkling and smell the cottonwood trees in Texas moments before she describes the deep physical and psychological pain of a beating and her sexual violation by members of her own family. She expresses the point of view of a child with devastating power as she carefully, and without self-pity, shows how a young girl was made to endure the unthinkable and its lasting effects on her life and relationships. -Professor S. Yoder, Felician College