Unspeakable
Surviving My Childhood and Finding My Voice
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4.5 • 77 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Using the written word as her witness statement, Jessica Willis Fisher gives a lacerating portrait of a girl finding her voice after years of being silenced and an unforgettable story of risk and faith.
Growing up the eldest daughter in a large, highly controlled, fundamentalist Christian household, Jessica Willis was groomed to perform, and to conform to her father's disturbing and chaotic teachings. Cut off from anything unapproved by her father, Jessica was persistently curious about the outside world, always wondering what was normal or potentially dangerous about her upbringing.
When the Willis family rocketed into fame after their appearances on multiple televised talent competitions in 2014, Jessica and her family landed their own reality TV show and toured across the globe, singing and dancing for millions. The world loved this beautiful family of kids; young and vivacious, the Willis's presented themselves to be extraordinary and happy. But the older and wiser Jessica got, the more she had to face that what was going on behind closed doors would forever be escalating.
In this elegant, harrowing story of the manipulation and codependency that defines abusive family relationships, Jessica Willis Fisher lets us see the formative moments of her childhood through her eyes. Fisher's haunting coming-of-age memoir captures the beauty and ugliness of a young woman finding her way—filled with longing, fear, confusion, secrecy, and most importantly, hope for the future.
Unspeakable: Surviving My childhood and Finding My Voice shares:
An unflinching look at the manipulation and codependency that defines abusive family relationshipsThe formative moments of Jessica's childhood through her eyesAn unforgettable story of courage and strength
Beautifully written and monumental in its bravery, Fisher's story is proof that we can all become so much more that the things that happen to us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this wrenching debut memoir, singer-songwriter Fisher recounts the "mental, emotional, spiritual" as well as brutal physical and sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her father, Toby Willis. Fisher was the oldest of 12 siblings, who along with their parents performed as the Willis Clan, including regular gigs at the Grand Ole Opry near their home in Nashville, and became reality TV stars. But behind the facade, Fisher writes about the isolation of strict Christian homeschooling that preached subservient roles for women, Toby's authoritarian rules and violent outbursts, and how the siblings were made to spy on one another. Most horrifyingly, she relays Toby's sexual abuse of her and later her sisters, which started when she was around three or four years old. With the support of future husband Sean Fisher, she finally summons the strength to leave in her early 20s, and (with therapy) finds her own voice ("Every beautiful and broken part of my story was mine"). After a family friend reports Toby to the authorities, Fisher must reckon with her family and religious community's resistance to exposure and guilt over her role in keeping the secrets so long. (Toby Willis is now serving a 40-year prison sentence). It's a painful story, but it's bravely told, for herself and "other little invisible girls and boys."
Customer Reviews
Speechless
I read this in 3 days. It’s a very well written story
Complex
This is well written and hard to digest at the same time. What I found most disturbing was how her father twisted scripture to keep her silent and submissive. God bless her for speaking up.
Powerful
A must-read, though if you yourself are a survivor, be cautious about some graphic descriptions.