Unspeakable Things: Silence, Shame, and the Stories We Choose to Believe

by Brooke Nevils, Jane Oppenheimer (Narrator)

A powerful and personal examination of our most persistent and dangerous misunderstandings, myths and stereotypes about sexual harassment and assault

In 2017, Brooke Nevils made a confidential HR complaint about one of the most powerful and familiar faces in media. Twenty-four hours later, the highest paid morning news anchor in history was fired, stunning millions of Americans in one of the MeToo era’s defining stories. Demanding answers—and the intimate details of the most personal and painful humiliation of her life—the press soon discovered her identity.

But hers was not the kind of black-and-white story the media knew how to tell. There’d been no explicit threats. She hadn’t screamed, fought, or gone to the police. Instead, she returned to her abuser again and again in a frantic attempt to “fix” an impossible situation that threatened her livelihood and the people closest to her. Yet as MeToo unfolded, Brooke learned that messy stories like hers were far from the exception, and that nearly everything she’d believed about sexual harassment and assault—and how victims react to it—was wrong. She began a yearslong effort to confront and understand her own experience, not simply as a woman reckoning with her past, but as a journalist confronting the critical questions that MeToo asked but ultimately left unanswered.

Through groundbreaking interviews with leading clinicians, forensic professionals, attorneys, and frontline researchers, Unspeakable Things challenges our understanding of consent, power, and the lingering, often misunderstood effects of trauma and shame. Despite its rarefied setting at the height of fame, power, and American media, Brooke’s story serves as a textbook example of an all-too-common scenario that continues to devastate lives and enable abusers. This book is a powerful re-examination of everything we think we know, the start to a new conversation, and—for anyone who has ever felt ashamed, hopeless, alone, and afraid—a light in the dark.

Genres: Memoir, Feminism, Nonfiction

Audiobook

First published February 3, 2026

Reviews

[Karen Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Matt Lauer,
I hope you spend your remaining years paralyzed by shame and an overwhelming sense of self pity and regret for your actions. I hope your 3 children read this book and recoil in disgust from it. I hope someday men like you no longer exist.
Sincerely,
Audiobook Listener

[Carolyn Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rare is a 5 star rating from me. This memoir deserved it, brave, authentic, informative, well researched. I highly recommend.

[Grace Ivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely tough but important read.

[Michelle Jarc · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much to take away from this book. First, if you have a daughter, do yourself a favor and read this. What happened to Brooke Nevils is not the entirety of this book. It is more about understanding what sexual assault and sexual harassment are and how that trauma is life long. It is rarely "textbook rape". You always want to say "why didn't they just leave?", "why didn't they report it sooner?". It is so easy for us to judge until you are in that situation yourself. Second, rich and powerful men that take advantage of any "weaker" female - whether it be a news anchor, coach, teacher, business owner, actor - whoever, I really hope there is a hot place in hell for these people. It is hard not to grow my rage when reading books like this when Epstein is in the news almost daily.
Third, these are some quotes that had the biggest impact on me:
1)"Why should the own-ness be on women to navigate men's advances, and not on men to stop making them?" - because "boys will be boys", right? Are we just to excuse these men because they cannot control their impulses? The entitlement of these powerful men is maddening. (And, honestly - its not always powerful men).
2) "Again and again Matt's argument isn't an assertion of innocence, but a deflection of blame".
3) "Anyone who chooses to hold a position of power is accountable for not abusing those who have less power. Period. Desire and attraction have nothing to do with it. As it stands today, we leave victims alone and ashamed."

Highly recommend.

[Grace B]

I don’t know how to rate this one. It’s very well written and has important messages. However, halfway through reading I learned that the author is married to a political consultant who helped Trump get re-elected (you may recognize Trump from the Epstein Files or famously “grabbing women by the p*****). The author being okay with that makes her messaging on sexual assault (aside from her own experiences, I have no place to judge those accounts) feel ignorant or inauthentic or both.

[Natalie Benavides · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a wealth of information and it is a personal story. Also, it brought me rage.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a survivor of sexual assault. It was brutally difficult reading this book. I didn’t just read it once. I read and studied large chunks of it over and over again. As someone who has endured very similar types of sexual assault, my BS meter for testing the veracity of a survivor’s story is calibrated differently than that of the average book reviewer. I look for clear and undeniable hallmarks of sexual trauma in writing. Those indicators can be messy and confusing. I experienced PTSD and uninvited recall while reading this, having to put the book down dozens of times. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish it. The research, documentation, and interviews Ms. Nevils offers are thorough and meticulous. I had to carefully discern confirmation bias from her heartbreaking truth. For other survivors reading her book, what gave me moments to breathe was her strategic weaving of interviews and research throughout the fabric of her experience; a fabric ripped and torn throughout. Her impeccable journalistic integrity makes every attempt to examine the most widely accepted, peer-reviewed research by sexual trauma experts. The information she provides about the impact of alcohol on trauma recall in the final chapters is worth the price of the book. To accuse her of seeking a payday completely ignores the reality that no amount of money can make one forget sexual trauma. It can’t buy peace or repair the horrific damage to one’s psyche. It’s a very temporary bandaid. All survivors know this. She managed to somehow record her account while struggling with the loss of her career and the unbearable loss of both parents five years apart. No, it’s not a perfectly written memoir. And while parts of it seem irreconcilable, survivors understand why we try repeatedly to make damaged puzzle pieces fit a perfect picture that no longer exists. Her details are unbearably raw, jagged, and often self-deprecating. She’s not writing what you want to hear. She’s managed to somehow record what screams sound like in print. Hers is an extremely concise dissection of an industry, like countless others, where subordinates are routinely exploited by a hierarchy of tiered power differentials and all the ensuing abuses. Been there. I have nothing to offer Mr. Lauer here. NBC made their decision. What occurred between Mr. Lauer and Ms. Nevils is only known and understood by them alone. I judge neither. Both have experienced unimaginable suffering. I’m simply stating that I recognize all of the markers of sexual trauma in her narrative. It’s enough. From one sexual assault survivor to another, thank you for your bravery, determination, and the untold agony you endured sharing this “cautionary tale.“

[Katarina · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Audiobook via Audible*

The bravery to tell her side of the story with details that did not shy away from what she experienced from Matt Lauer while at NBC… wow. What makes this book different is her use of psychology and looking at legal terminology and precedent over sexual assault instances, allegations and court proceedings - in general and from the workplace/someone with more authority or power over the other. She dives into the impact of being in that situation, the trauma, memory/recall bias, stigma and all of that. I loved her analysis and input she add from professionals in the field. It was a heavy, heavy read but powerful. She wrote this as a love letter to her life, to help other women in anyway possible by sharing what she went through, how she struggled and has worked on healing and living a full life now. Incredible. I’m in awe of her.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am inspired by Brooke’s complete commitment to sharing a painful and highly personal story with the world. Matt counted on her silence and she did something exceptional by shattering it. I’m not crazy about books where theory is integrated into a memoir. I skipped around most of that and stuck with her story. Both of her parents would be so proud of her. She has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about and everything to share to help others who have been through similar experiences. I have nothing but admiration for her. She may have been a convenience to him at the time, but now she is of great inconvenience to Matt to the delight of all of us reading it. Way to go, Brooke! Enjoy your hard-won beautiful life and thank you.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written. I picked this up because as a long time Today show viewer, I always enjoyed Matt and Katie as co-anchors. However, once Matt was removed for his behavior toward female employees, it wasn't a stretch to believe that he had been inappropriate. Nevils account of what transpired and the way Lauer treated her is disgusting, heartbreaking, and completely believable. I never doubted for a minute what Nevils said happened. And her book is not just about her experience. She writes about power dynamics, vulnerability, being a victim, and trauma.

[Melissa Coffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because I have watched The Today Show for years and years and loved Katie and Matt, I thought this book would be a short tell all book about the sexual assault that happened by Matt and why he was fired from his 25 million dollar a year job. But this book was so much more, so much research and statistics and other sexual assault cases, it’s kind of overwhelming at times. So informative and well researched, and what he did was horrible!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this so everyone is better about understanding and talking about sexual assault and sexual harassment. The less gray areas there are, the less space for predators to operate in.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. So validating for victims and educational for all! Very thorough research. Thank you Brooke!

[Elena Saavedra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful memoir on power and silence, resonant for anyone who has worked within complex institutions.