Shattered but Unbreakable

When Clara fell for Adam, she felt an unwavering kind of love for him, a love built on her belief
in the compassionate words that others didn’t hear but that meant everything to her because she heard them, she heard him. She held onto that love through Adam’s drinking and gambling, highlighting his lies, manipulation and abuse. And like those unheard words that built their relationship, others couldn’t fathom the abuse that would ultimately break it.

Throughout the turmoil, Clara found some peace in keeping a secret journal. It’s from those pages that Shattered but Unbreakable: Living with a Covert Narcissist emerged. The early warning signs, recurrent abusive techniques, self-doubt, and self-gaslighting—this hybrid memoir uncovers it all. The raw, candid prose shows the complexity of abusive relationships. Because there’s nothing simple about leaving, not with a narcissistic spouse and not with children to protect. And where prose can’t capture the rage, despair, and pain, Clara’s drawings and poems do. They’re vulnerable and intimate, poignant and insightful.

Shattered but Unbreakable is more than a trauma memoir; it’s a memoir about perseverance, resilience, and finding self-love and -worth. It’s a call to action for anyone who’s felt unheard, less than, trapped, or alone. Now is the time to rise and rage. Because you’re not alone, Clara is right beside you.