The End of Tennessee
A Memoir

Rachel M. Hanson (Author)

9781643364933

Paperback / softback, published 20 August 2024

200 pages
21 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.252 kg

A book about disturbing experiences, related with cleareyed catharsis and memorable prose."— Kirkus Reviews

A haunting memoir of childhood trauma, building a life, and wounds that never heal

"Not a year before I ran away from home at seventeen, I stepped out of the house at dusk, still able to see shrub oaks thinned out for winter, fame flower, too, and dun clay so wet the smell of it seemed settled in my skin." So begins Rachel M. Hanson's debut memoir about growing up impoverished, uneducated, and surrounded by violence. In lyrical, fragmented prose, she lays bare the impossible choice between self-preservation and her love for five younger siblings for whom she had become a second mother. As the years pass, Hanson struggles with guilt for leaving her siblings as she slowly realizes she could not save them. The End of Tennessee is a testament to a sister's love—to resilience and determination—a book for anyone who has left one life to create another.