4 Unmissable Books on Trauma (and Healing) by Women

That I read, identified with, and loved

We’re at a time of explosive growth in the publishing world’s attention to women’s trauma. As Stephanie Foo writes in her memoir What My Bones Know, women’s experience of trauma is unique, both culturally and physiologically: “Women are more than twice as likely to have PTSD than men. Ten percent of women are expected to suffer from PTSD in their lifetimes, as opposed to just 4 percent of men…. [But] treatment for this trauma remains a half-assed endeavor, an afterthought in the shadow of the glory of war.”

Thankfully, a new cast of young women writers are sharing their stories. Here are four that I loved.

I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy

McCurdy is irreverent and brave in this book about her upbringing as a child star: from eating disorders to stage parenting, toxic one-sided relationships with co-stars and manipulative industry execs. As a first-time author who many millennial women recognize from the Nickelodeon show “iCarly,” McCurdy sparks a warm compassion in readers who realize the abuse she endured in that role and after. (I loved Sam’s character, and now wonder if I had unknowingly identified with who she was behind the scenes.) Even though we can’t all relate to the…