One Body: My story of trauma and survival - Tapa blanda

Sarah Lovell never knew her biological father, and she first experienced sexual abuse at age eleven. Those early traumas led to a life of increasing instability. Lovell’s intimate partners beat and secluded her, and the fragile young woman disappeared into a falsely comforting haze of alcohol and drugs. She lost custody of her first two children, a son and a daughter. She gave birth to two more daughters, and temporarily lost custody of them as well, before a rock-bottom revelation finally forced her to get sober.

Her life seemed to be coming together, but her children began to experience heartbreaking traumas themselves. Her teenage daughter journeyed down a path of unthinkable sexual exploitation, while her vulnerable youngest daughter struggled through intense social trauma at school. Lovell, armed with a new career and a burgeoning sober self-confidence, took up the fight for her children.

One Body is the story of physical and emotional scars that ultimately teach invaluable lessons. Lovell hopes to inspire other women to keep standing up after life’s devastating blows knock them down.

Sarah Lovell is a single mother and recovering alcoholic and drug addict. She’s been sober for ten years, and in that time, she went back to school, became a licensed massage therapist, and opened her own business doing massage therapy. Lovell and her daughter were featured in A Path Appears, a recent documentary series based on a book written by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, and produced by Show Of Force. The series airs on PBS in January 2015. Lovell hopes their participation in the series will help bring awareness to the plight of trafficked women and children in the United States. Her memoir is the story of a woman’s brutal early years, subsequent recovery, and attempts to make amends for past wrongs. She hopes that One Body will inspire other women to find the strength to keep going in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.