A mem­oir about a daughter’s rela­tion­ship with her father, a rab­bi who is both a pil­lar of the Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty and a vio­lent man har­bor­ing an intri­cate set of secrets.

As the eldest daugh­ter of a young, charis­mat­ic Chica­go rab­bi, Sara Sher­bill idol­ized her father. But when his fre­quent rages threat­en to destroy their fam­i­ly, she informs the police — an act whose reper­cus­sions will change the course of her life. 

Twen­ty years lat­er, beset by depres­sion and a life­time of secret-keep­ing, Sara is still liv­ing in the shad­ow of her father’s abuse, even as she nav­i­gates mar­riage and new moth­er­hood.

When Sara receives a text from a young woman she’s nev­er met — inform­ing Sara that she is also a vic­tim of her father’s, Sara’s world unrav­els; Sara always thought the only girl her father had been abus­ing was her­self.

An unflinch­ing explo­ration of one daughter’s strug­gle to come to terms with her sin­gu­lar father, this is also a sto­ry about learn­ing to sur­vive the past — and what can be reclaimed.