An unflinching true account of a teenage girl’s dizzying descent into drugs and self-destruction and a mother’s desperate attempts to bring her back. Riveting, alternately heart-wrenching and hilarious, Come Back is a ultimately a testament to our power to transform ourselves and a powerful portrayal of the primal bond between mother and daughter that will resonate with readers long after they’ve put it down.
Mother and daughter tell their parallel stories in gripping and provocative first-person accounts. Claire’s story is a parent’s nightmare: having to save three-year-old Mia first from an abusive father, then a decade later from herself. If she can find her - her straight-A prep-school daughter has not only vanished, she’d been living a secret life for a year.
Claire's search for Mia was brutal for both mother and daughter, a harrowing series of dead ends, incredible coincidences and, at times, miracles - across three states. Desperate to save her, Claire ultimately forced Mia into a harsh-but-loving boot camp school in Eastern Europe, later in Montana.
Mia details her precarious refuge in the abyss of drug addicts, the painful childhood trauma that caused her near self-destruction, and her remarkable, if controversial, process of healing. The environment at Mia's school was alien, the rules extreme.
But for an extreme kid, extreme measures worked; Mia shares how she overcame addiction, depression, and self-hatred to emerge a strong and positive young woman who in three years went from living and shooting up with criminals to one of our nation's most prestigious universities.
Parents had to go through their own "boot camp" and Claire relates her own often painful process of self-examination with unsparing honesty and humor. What both women learned on their journey changed them forever, empowering them to transform their once-shattered relationship and their individual destinies.
"It takes great tenacity to revisit experiences like the ones
described in this book... Come Back is a testament to the power of the love between a mother and daughter.”
"...impossible to put down and walk away from, which I tried
to do a few times but couldn't. The writing is honest, raw,
haunting, and beautiful..."
— Ree Drummond
thepioneerwoman.com
"We strongly recommend this powerful mother-daughter memoir... Intense, shocking, and ultimately triumphant...”
— Barnes & Noble
B&N's Favorite New Biography
“A nightmarish saga ends triumphantly... mother and
daughter maintain a heart-wrenching, honest dialogue.”
— Publishers Weekly
"Come Back is an intense experience that will change you
forever...you won't want to put it down. It is a gripping,
brilliant, and inspiring true story... You definitely don't want to miss it."
Janice Croze
5minutesformom.com
"I don't think I'm the only reader who… stops reading a book
about Mia and Claire and starts reading one that's much more
personal. There are no spectators here... When you get to the end, you'll want to cheer."
Jesse Kornbluth
HeadButler.com, co-founder of Bookreporter.com,
former Editorial Director AOL
"Beautifully written and inspiring, it speaks compellingly to
women of all ages. This is an extremely important book.”
— Susan Forward, Ph.D.
author of Toxic Parents and Men Who Hate Women and
The Women Who Love Them
"An amazing testament to a private kind of heroism undertaken by both Claire and Mia; namely, the pain-staking
work of defining one's own life's story, assuming
accountability for one's choices, and the
liberation that results..."
Mamazine.com
"This kind of writing talent is rare... many life lessons are learned from this mere child...You quickly find yourself thanking Mia for your own self-reflections..."
Jessica Carlson
Imperfectparent.com
