Finding the Light: A Mother's Journey from Trauma to Healing

by Marian Henley

Overview

Marian Henley's beautifully illustrated memoir tells an emotionally resonant story about the wonder and redemption of raising a son after surviving extreme male violence.  

This poignant graphic memoir describes the most difficult conversation between a mother and her son — the one about the two rapes she experienced as a young woman. It’s something she always knew she would share with her son, but the process of doing so is harder — and more freeing — than she could have imagined. This difficult but beautiful story chronicles how she overcame trauma and violence to find love and healing as a mother. Drawing on her decades as a professional cartoonist, Henley’s elegant black ink illustrations, trademark humor, and witty writing style shine through even in the darkest moments and tell a story of survivorship, parenting, and hope.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781524894566
Publisher:	Andrews McMeel Publishing
Publication date:	03/05/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	54 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Marian Henley is a cartoonist, artist, and author whose work has appeared since 1981 in many U.S. publications such as Funny TImes, Austin Chronicle, LA Weekly, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, MS. Glamour, MAD, newsletters for Hawaiian polygamists, recovery books for renegade Scientologists, funny sex books from the Kinsey Institute, and, yes, we had better stop right there. Her work has been translated for foreign publication into Russian, Swedish, Italian, and Spanish. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband Rick, son William, and numerous cats and dogs.

Editorial Reviews

03/25/2024

Henley, creator of the long-running weekly comic strip Maxine, recounts in this fearless and lyrical graphic memoir her decision to tell her adopted son, William, about her history as a sexual assault victim. Triggered by language degrading women in the pop music he listens to, she sits William down and discusses the two times she was raped: in her dorm room at age 19 in the 1970s, and at gunpoint in a clothing store in the ’90s. With brutal clarity, she depicts the attacks and their aftermaths, noting the callous way she was treated by the justice system in the ’70s, in particular. She excoriates the families of the perpetrators, describing how the mother of her first rapist, a privileged young white man, tried to get her son off the hook. The friends and family of Henley’s second attacker, who was Black, are depicted glaring at her with the labels “whore” and “white trash.” Lasting trauma arises at unexpected moments: “Rape is like a bomb,” she writes, “leaving part of you destroyed and part of you perfectly intact.” Henley’s loose, quivering linework is acrobatic; simple, understated panels periodically give way to a vividly rendered memory or a fiercely expressive face. The pain in her story is braced by her hope, elegantly expressed, that sharing it can make a difference, and her lithe art makes a difficult topic approachable. This joins the ranks of works like Diane Noomin’s Drawing Power that raise awareness of sexual violence through the immediacy of comics memoir. Agent: Betsy Amster, Amster Literary. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Henley, creator of the long-running weekly comic strip Maxine, recounts in this fearless and lyrical graphic memoir her decision to tell her adopted son, William, about her history as a sexual assault victim… Henley’s loose, quivering linework is acrobatic; simple, understated panels periodically give way to a vividly rendered memory or a fiercely expressive face. The pain in her story is braced by her hope, elegantly expressed, that sharing it can make a difference, and her lithe art makes a difficult topic approachable. This joins the ranks of works like Diane Noomin’s Drawing Power that raise awareness of sexual violence through the immediacy of comics memoir." (Publishers Weekly)

"Finding the Light is a remarkable book about trauma, resilience, motherhood, and ultimately, honesty. I read it in one sitting, then immediately read it again. Marian’s book will resonate with survivors, but also with parents, children, and anyone that loves deep, funny, and wise storytelling." (Wendi Aarons, author of "I'm Wearing Tunics Now")

From the Publisher