Books Saved My Life

Abstract

In this chapter, Mary Anne Adams narrates the story of her upbringing in Oxford, Mississippi, including the spatial organization of the town, her relationships with her parents, and struggles with child sexual abuse at the hands of her favourite uncle. Most of all, she discusses her feelings of loneliness in adolescence and never feeling quite like she fit with her family, identifying books as her respite from this isolation. She also discusses her involvement in local Atlanta politics and her commitment to coalitional struggles.