Places - Paperback

by Debbie Leigh (Author)

Covering roughly the first two decades of the author's life, 'Places' is a real life story of lovelessness, depression, desperation and abuse, both physical and psychological. It shows - at times with stark vividness - how insecurity, envy, distrust and lack of self-esteem can seep into the psyche of an entire family, engendering mental instability over successive generations. And it also shows how a person brought up in such a hostile and toxic environment can be hugely vulnerable when they try to make their own way in the outside world. Searingly honest, and without affectation or pretension, 'Places' is a tough story, often harrowing and at times confronting, but it is also a story of hope and the will to survive. Despite the appalling things done to her, the young Debbie - the first-person narrator of 'Places' - never gives up hope, and seldom wavers in her belief that the possibility of a better life might be just around the next corner. That was my quest in life. I felt it was possible, even though most people said life was hell on earth. I hated their negative words; and just kept hoping and dreaming for a better future. Debbie never gave up, and she found the hope she was looking for, in the man who walked into a hospital room, as she lay in a pool of blood. Debbie also has a public speaking ministry called 'No Offense'.

Author Biography

Debbie Leigh is a motivational speaker, freelance writer and author of the self-help book Men are from Adam; Women are from Eve. She is a member of the Victorian Writers' Centre in Melbourne and the Peter Cowan Writers' Centre in Perth. Overall, she has lived 13 years in Melbourne, Victoria; 17 years in Newcastle and Sydney, New South Wales; and 25 years in Perth, Western Australia, where she currently resides. Her autobiography, Places, is so named because she had many addresses in the first twenty years of her life that she portrayed in her book; with violence, depression and suicidal thoughts following her into each one of them. Her passion is to help those who have experienced similar trauma to reach a place of freedom.