Laura Davis, celebrated author and advocate, joins And Then Everything Changed for episode 100! When Laura’s groundbreaking first book, The Courage to Heal was released decades ago it was the first of its kind to document hundreds of women’s stories of sexual abuse. In it, Laura shared her own story of being sexually abused by her grandfather, showed women it was possible to heal from this trauma, and called out the patriarchy. As she helped hundreds of thousands of women and her star rose, a rupture began in her own family. Her mother refused to believe Laura about the abuse she’d suffered, and when Laura came out as lesbian her family rejected her.

Laura relocated across the country and found a supportive community, a loving relationship, became a mother, and wrote and published many more books. Then, toward the end of her mother’s life, she told Laura she was moving to live near her and Laura faced the prospect of caring for and being in relationship again with her mother who had hurt her so many years before. In this episode Laura shares what it was like to write her new memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars: A Mother-Daughter Story about how she reconciled with the mother who betrayed her and came to care for her in her final days.

Also in this episode: Laura’s tips for writing about traumatic experiences, where the boundaries are when writing about family experiences, and what all memoir writing needs.