Final Girl: And Other Essays on Grief, Trauma, and Mental Illness

Description

When Kelly J. Baker was two years old, her mother fled Baker’s abusive father. A custody arrangement left Baker behind, the new target of his violence. But against all odds, she escaped from the trailer park to college and graduate school. But the pain of her childhood remained, buried deep.

Final Girl is the story of Baker’s journey from poverty to Ph.D., from trauma to therapy, with all of the bumps along the way. Whether talking about parenthood, finding a therapist, moving back home to her small town, or wrestling with the algae in an old swimming pool, Final Girl reckons with what it takes to build a home in a place where you never thought you’d find home again.