The Cut and Run Years is a memoir that lingers in the heart long after the last page is turned. Set in the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, this story tells of a young girl who loses her father at eight, and with him, her emotional footing. As the years unfold, even surrounded by family, her grief becomes a quiet shadow, shaping her choices and chasing her through the smoky haze of the 1970s counterculture, from Key West to Austin. A search for freedom through alcohol, pot, and travel becomes a pattern and a coping mechanism. It's only after an affair with another woman that she realizes that she is a lesbian and quickly suppresses that realization for fear of rejection. We see her journey through these years and begin the undoing of her suppressions and finally accept and love herself by opening herself to her pain and fear.

An underlying theme throughout the memoir is the strength of family and the power of that love even in the lowest of times. Her mother's love becomes the catalyst to face her grief and begin to process her pain. It is also by coming out to her mother that she can accept herself and love herself for who she is...finally learning to live authentically.

The Cut and Run Years is not just a coming-of-age story. It's a journey through silence, love, and the long road home to self-acceptance. For anyone who's ever buried pain to survive-or ever dared to feel again-this memoir will speak to your soul.