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When a lonely young girl meets a teacher twice her age, she is seduced into a web of deceit and secrecy-an experience that teaches her that sex in exchange for attention feels like love, even as it destroys her self-worth. Here, Liz Kinchen offers a detailed view of exactly how this abusive experience influenced her adult relationships, and how her eventual healing unfolded.
About the author
Liz Kinchen is a writer, meditation teacher, and Buddhist practitioner. With graduate degrees in computer science and counseling psychology, she worked in software development management for twenty-one years before moving into the non-profit sector for seventeen years as the executive director of a small organization working with underserved children and families in Honduras. Her passions are her family, meditation, teaching mindfulness, writing, talking with close friends, and walking in nature. She is a contributing author to the anthology
Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis, published by She Writes Press in 2022. Liz lives in the greater Boston area with her husband of over thirty years. You can find her blog, and information about her teaching, at www.lizkinchen.com.
Summary
Light in Bandaged Places shows us the harm done when an older man in a position of power convinces a child that sex with him is alright because he loves her. This poignant story takes us through the long-term wounding of such abuse—and the multifaceted path of healing.
As a lonely girl coming of age in the 1970s, Liz has every reason to believe her 8th-grade teacher is in love with her. Because the sex isn’t physically violent and is wrapped in a message of love, she learns to exchange sex for attention. It feels like love, after all. But years later, as an adult, emotional closeness eludes Liz. Even after marrying a sensitive, caring man, she is walled off. Struggling through confusing years, she believes something is deeply wrong with her.
Healing begins when an unexpected event takes Liz back to those formative years, and she sees for the first time that what happened to her was not love but trauma. As she begins to understand how her relationship with her former teacher destroyed her innocence and self-worth, she begins a spiritual and psychological journey that sets her free.
Now a meditation teacher and Buddhist practitioner, Liz offers her story in hope of helping others along their own paths of discovery and healing.
Foreword
Books Forward
● Research and Development (press kit, pitch angles and target list)
● Media Outreach (personalized pitching and coverage coordination)
● Online Buzz (book influencers, social media support, and promotional giveaways)
● Industry Exposure, if chosen (trade publications, literary awards)
● Event Planning (bookstore and other events, stock signings)
● Industry Guidance and Post Campaign Maintenance
● Personalized Book Mailings (handwritten notes, printed press materials)
