My Father's House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing [Paperback]

Sylvia Fraser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1989

A chilling recollection of a child's experience with incest and an encouraging story of a woman's healing and forgiveness.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a memory breakthrough, Canadian novelist Fraser (Berlin Solstice, etc.) realized as she began her sixth novel, one dealing with incest, that she was recalling her own experience with her father, which amnesia had concealed for 40 years from her consciousness. The author recounts how her personality at the time split in two with the creation of a second self that assumed the repellent relationship with her father, although it surfaced in sudden rages and convulsions, and later, despite a happy marriage, in inexplicable depressions and sexual violence in her fiction. With compelling novelistic impact, Fraser relates through ever more portentous and specific dreams and mysterious forebodings the shattering moment of revelation 10 years after her father's death. Acknowledgment brought not only liberation of the other, long-suppressed self but forgiveness for her father and for herself. Major ad/promo; Literary Guild featured alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this stunningly powerful memoir, Fraser, a successful Canadian journalist and novelist, recaptures a childhood that had been repressed for 40 years. She had no conscious memory of the incestuous sexual abuse to which she had been subjected. She was burdened, however, by emotional deadness and inexplicable depressions. Memories seeped through in dreams and in the sexual violence of her novels. Here, she tells her story with eloquence, compassion, and almost unbearable candor. Fraser's literary skill recaptures a child's understanding; contemplates her conflicted adolescence; and traces, finally, the healing process. A bestseller in Canada. Essential. Literary Guild alternate. Sally Mitchell, Temple Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (May 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060972181
• ISBN-13: 978-0060972189
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sylvia Fraser has written six novels, four books of non-fiction, an illustrated children's book, and hundreds of magazine articles, for which she has won numerous awards.

Her book - "My Father's House: a Memoir of Incest and of Healing" - first published in 1987, was credited with breaking the silence on child sexual abuse, till then a largely taboo subject. It was described by The New York Times as having a significance comparable to "The Catcher in the Rye" and "To Kill a Mocking Bird." It was translated into many languages, and became an international bestseller.

Fraser's novels range from the contemporary to the historical. She has expressed her love of travel in "The Rope in the Water: a Pilgrimage to India" and in "The Green Labyrinth: Exploring the Mysteries of the Amazon," both following the theme of spiritual quest. Because of the many meaningful psychic incidents that she has experienced in her life, she wrote "The Quest for the Fourth Monkey: a Thinker's Guide to the Psychic and Spiritual Revolutions" (also published under the title "The Book of Strange") in an attempt to understand these events from a scientific and rational viewpoint, as well as from the intuitive and emotional one.

Most recently, Fraser cowrote "The Energy Cure: Unraveling the Mystery of Hands-On Healing" with scientist and healer Dr. William Bengston ( also published under the title "Chasing the Cure: an Effective Alternative for Curing Cancer and Other Diseases").

Sylvia Fraser lives in Toronto, Canada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Finely Crafted Novel, October 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father's House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing (Hardcover)

The topic of incest might be enough to drive away many potential readers of Sylvia Fraser's book, but there is so much more to be discovered if the reader takes a chance. I find Ms. Fraser to be fearless in opening herself onto the pages, exposing the good and the bad within herself, her family, and society. The events of her life, her journey through marriage, the rediscovery of her self and the integration of all her memories was at once joyful, inspiring, sad, tragic, and true. The detailed imagery took me back to the 1950s, a decade before I was born, to experience it as if I had lived through those years with her. I can truly say this is one of the better written books I've had to pleasure to read and my admiration of it's technical construction and voice has inspired a wish that I might someday write that well. I reread this book at least once a year and I've looked long and hard for other books by Sylvia Fraser, as I know she's written one titled Pandora's Box, but, alas, have not found them in print anywhere. Since I know the author is from Canada, I'm hoping someone will comment here and let me know where I might get copies. Sylvia, if you're reading this, hope you are well, living life to the fullest, have a few cats in your life, and are still writing more novels for me to discover.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vivid Memoir, November 13, 2006

By 

wanderingkat (Either small town VA, or D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Father's House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing (Hardcover)

Though I was often saddened or outraged by things happening in this memoir, I was never bored reading it. This tragic tale of a young girl coming of age under dire circumstances is written with the utmost skill and care. Reading this, I was often moved by Sylvia's experiences, but more than anything else, I was moved by her strength. This story is told with honesty and courage, but not with an attitude searching for sympathy. Despite everything, Ms. Fraser admits at the end of her memoir that she loved her father, which can be the most complicated emotion of all. I would unconditionally recommend this book to anyone with an interest in abnormality psychology or any related subject. This is a truly beautifully written memoir.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful and captivating work of art, June 16, 2005

By 

Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: My Father's House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing (Hardcover)

Incest is a complicated topic even for those who have lived it. The author begins her story with the earliest memories that she has and back and forth, back and forth, they begin to unfold as they so often do.

Her awareness of her issues, of her family and of the times is uncanny; and her ability to spin them into words is a painful pleasure to read.

I learned nothing intellectual I didn't already know -- but I enjoyed sharing the journey with someone who understood so much about what she had been through, and who didn't mind sharing the healing.