Darkness Was My Candle: An Odyssey of Survival and Grace [Paperback]

Born into poverty and violence, Loras early life was one of extreme vulnerability. She was prostituted for the first time at the age of nine and suffered unspeakable treatment from those who should have protected her. Early trauma led to her institutionalization soon after she started college, an incarceration she would not have survived but for a courageous nurse who fought for her release. Fifty years later, with an advanced degree in clinical psychology, a long career as a successful mental health professional, a leading educator and sought-after public speaker, Lora revisited the grounds of the Illinois state mental hospital where she was once kept in inhumane, degrading, and life-threatening circumstances. This profound and compelling memoir traces her life as a survivor of child abuse, sex trafficking, illegal pharmacological drug research, and institutional abuse. Loras experiences illuminate and validate the power of love and the strength of the indomitable human spirit that lives within each one of us. This is her story.

Now a successful mental health professional, leading educator and sought-after public speaker, Lora DeVores early life was one of extreme vulnerability. This compelling memoir traces her life as a survivor of child abuse. Loras experiences illuminate the power of love and the strength of the indomitable human spirit that lives within each of us.

Acknowledgments
Epigraph
Introduction
1. The Smell of Suffering
2. In the BeginningWar on the Home Front
3. Tornado Alley
4. Loves Awakening
5. Dismemberment
6. Ward of the Court, 1962
Reflection: The Web of LifeShirley and Carole
7. The Sharp Edges of the World
8. Shattered
9. Emerging from the Abyss
10. Fools Folly or Angels in Disguise?
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