From Publishers Weekly
One Sunday afternoon in the 1980s, Anderson locked herself in her deserted office suite, prepared some heroin and, after searching 10 minutes for a usable vein, injected herself. Three days later she awoke in intensive care, recovering from an accidental overdose. A co-worker had found Anderson's nearly lifeless body and called 911. Though grateful for rescue, Anderson was hopelessly addicted. Even before leaving the hospital she was using drugs again, despite signing herself into the psychiatric ward for help. Today Anderson, clean for 17 years, is an author (12-Step Programs: A Resource Guide for Helping Professionals) and motivational speaker who credits God, a treatment program, AA and a circle of caring friends for her recovery and for the subsequent fulfillment of her deepest aspirations. Each of the more than 40 chapters in this book tells a gripping personal story, alternating devastating experiences of rape, abuse and failed relationships with inspirational accounts of miracles, forgiveness, successes and tough love. Following each story is a brief spiritual application, a prayer and a quotation from the Bible. Combining African-American preaching cadences and King James phrasing with a novelist's ear for dialogue, Anderson's stories bring to life her conviction that "when we ask God for a dream or a vision for our lives, our prayers will not only be answered with tailor-made dreams prepared in advance for us; but we will also be given absolutely everything that we need to realize the dream."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Anderson is a recovering heroin addict who offers an inspiring and compelling look at her long journey to self-destruction and her ultimate recovery through religion. Anderson chronicles her slow downslide from one drug to another, one thrill-seeking party and abusive relationship to another, until she overdoses on her job and nearly dies three times on the way to the hospital. She loses her job, custody of her child, and all sense of self-restraint before she finally gathers the courage to find peace in her relationship with God to recover herself and her life. She looks back on a life of 18 years of drug abuse, rape at the age of 13, a failed marriage, and abandonment of her child, and her eventual triumph. Anderson intersperses her recollection of treatment and recovery with Bible passages and affirmations. Readers with their own personal struggles with addiction will appreciate this profoundly inspiring story of recovery and redemption.
Vanessa BushCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews