The Seller of Secrets

Mother was an emotionally damaged woman shrouded in dark secrets. Father was a man plagued by alcoholism who lived in a state of drunken evasion before jumping ship. Kathleen was born into this family and a community plagued by toxic male aggression, submissive women, wannabe Mafia brutes, charlatan holy men and women, and lurid and criminal goings-on—made possible by cheek-turners, complicit and fearful enablers, and an ever-present, overarching code of silence. The words etched into Kathleen's childhood bones never let her completely forget: "We are finally alone," from the teenager, and "You don't want to hurt a man's reputation, especially a holy man's," from the priest. An explosion of truth tells of cover-ups, drugs, and attempted suicide; the resilience found in books, art, and as a guitarist and singer in a metal band; the tragedy of September 11; and becoming a mother. Kathleen discovers reiki and leaves NYC for Vermont, finding shamanism and Brennan energy medicine. But just as she is finding healing, her mother makes the staggering near-death confession that she participated in Kathleen's abuse. A true heroine's journey, The Seller of Secrets is Kathleen's story of how she made peace with the past and found wisdom in her wounds.