GLIMMER

A cathartic memoir about childhood abuse and the aftermath.

“The suffering won’t end, in my family or anyone’s, unless we speak up,” writes Murphy, a first-time author and successful Hollywood stuntwoman. “So that’s what I’ll do.” Divided into three parts (“Splitting,” “Spinning,” and “Landing”), the narrative primarily unfolds chronologically. The author recounts chilling details about the sexual molestation she suffered, beginning when she was 2, at the hands of her maternal grandfather, as well as her grandmother’s blind complicity. Writing about an instance when she was in the bathroom, Murphy notes, “It happens just like every other time: a crack in the door…the tasseled dress shoes, stepping through.” In spite of overwhelming signs, including her diagnosis with herpes, the author mostly suffered alone. “The thing about incest: it messes with your mind,” Murphy writes, “and makes you forget who you are, who you were, and what you were meant for in this world.” Following her grandfather’s death when she was 10, Murphy broke her silence by confiding the truth to her mother, who told her that she experienced the same abuse but had only begun to remember. Murphy began to disassociate and became bulimic, and she could not avoid her extensive triggers: “I don’t know why, but especially when things are going well for me—I seek my triggers out.” After years as an acrobat, the author found success as a stunt double. “It turns out every stunt is symbolic,” she writes, “a new declaration that I’m in control of my life.” Murphy cites this as one reason she loves her job: “I sometimes get to be the avenger, rising up to kick the oppressor’s ass.” At 30, the author began to see a therapist regularly, and she describes how helpful “MDMA therapy” has been. Cameron Diaz provides the introduction.

This painful, inspiring story demonstrates that healing is neither easy nor linear, but it is possible.