STRONGER THAN YOU KNOW

After police intervention, fifteen-year-old Joy has finally escaped the trailer where she once lived with her mother and survived years of confinement and abuse.

Now living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in a comfortable house, she’s sure she’ll never belong. Wracked by panic attacks, afraid to talk to anyone at her new school, Joy’s got a whole list of reasons why she’s crazy. With immense courage, Joy finds friends and grows closer to her new family. But just when hope is taking hold, she learns she must testify in her mother’s trial. Can she face her old life without losing her way in the new one? Will she ever truly belong in a world that seems too normal to be real? Jolene grew up in South-central Alaska. She's lived in Anchorage, near the Alyeska ski resort, on a cabin on an island on a lake, and then in a boring old house. Jolene kissed a boy on her high school graduation night. One she'd wanted to kiss for a long time. They got married two years later, have built two homes together, survived military deployments, law school, student loan debt, and two children. Jolene plays the guitar, takes pictures, and loves to hike. She doesn't like rivers, but loves the ocean. She loves to fly, but gets motion sick. Her ultimate vacation would be to sail through the deserted islands in The Bahamas. Two years ago, she got that wish when her parents retired on a sailboat. She taught high school French when she was only a few years older than her students, and then taught middle school math with her degree in political science and French. She spends grocery money on designer fabric, shoes, and books. Jolene cannot express how many times she wished she could write a whole novel. And now she has. Several times. Life is good. She currently lives in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska with her husband and two kids.