Half Penny: A Memoir of Tangled Truths

Finalist! 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Women's Nonfiction

Half Penny is a deeply intimate memoir that unearths the buried truths of a fractured childhood shaped by secrecy, loss, and the longing for connection. In the wake of her father's death, Lori is pulled into a reckoning: not only with the volatile man he was, but with the lies he took to his grave.

What begins as a daughter's attempt to lay her father to rest becomes a harrowing excavation of her earliest memories: her mother's early death, her own childhood abduction, and the quiet violence of being raised in a home where loyalty meant silence. Told in sharp, lyrical prose, Half Penny examines the emotional cost of survival and the courage it takes to face the past.

Unflinching yet compassionate, Half Penny invites readers into the heart of a girl growing up amid chaos, and the woman who must piece herself back together to reclaim her voice. Fans of memoirs like Troubled (Rob K Henderson) and The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls) will find familiar emotional terrain in this true story of deception, survival, and identity lost and found.

Perfect for readers who:

-look for true stories

-are drawn to emotional and unforgettable narratives

-want to be inspired by courageous accounts of resilience and survival

-need a selection for their book club

-enjoy accessible stories