The Lost Years: Surviving a Mother and Daughter's Worst Nightmare

Review "The Lost Years is one of the most important books on family addiction and recovery that I have come across in years. It allows the readers a rare, simultaneous look into the hearts and minds of both the co-dependent and the addict. Kristina and her mother take us through the suffering, turmoil and destruction of addiction right on through to forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. This book is invaluable to families, and I am proud to recommend The Lost Years." -- John Bradshaw, best-selling author of Healing the Shame That Binds You and Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child, and one of the leading authorities on co-dependency and family recovery"This is the most important book I have read this year. I couldn't put it down." -- Anne Lamott, best-selling author of Grace (Eventually), Operating Instructions, Bird by Bird, Traveling Mercies, Rosie, All New People, and Blue ShoeThis book touches on both sides of addiction the side of the addict and that of the enabler. -- Cheri and Pat Summerall, former American football player and legendary sportscaster, and his wifeThis is a powerful and amazing book. I could not put it down. -- Michael Pritchard, PBS host and child advocateThis is the most extraordinary memoir I have ever read. -- Stephanie Brown, Ph.D., psychologist and author Product Description A child caught in the horror of alcohol and drug addition. A mother helplessly standing by unable to save her. The Lost Years is the real life story of just such a mother and child, each giving their first-hand accounts of the years lost to addiction and despair. Kristina, the second of four children, tells how she turns to alcohol for comfort when she is thirteen. She gives a brutally honest description of her descent into addiction, prostitution, burglary and violent rape until her near death on the floor of a homeless shelter completely alone at the age of twenty-one. Adding a heart-wrenching counterpart to the story, Kristina's mother, Connie, tells of her powerlessness to help her addicted daughter, the break-up of her unhappy marriage and how she comes to terms with her own co-dependency. She is also faced with the worst choice a mother has to make, to close the door on Kristina, sending her onto the streets in order to save herself and protect her other children. Then follows the remarkable story of Kristina's recovery as she lives through rehab, her mother's tough love and the years of acclimating herself to living a normal life.