What I wanted was comfort and companionship. I needed to hear a story. When I was a child, my mother would soothe me with stories about how she'd solved a problem or suffered an embarrassment. It made me feel less alone. I want Telling to be that kind of book for others.
Rape is a difficult and personal subject.
I'm aware that there's resistance to looking closely at rape. It still scares me at times to look at it. And I know most people anticipate feeling powerless in the face of that kind of terror. But Telling is not a frightening or depressing book. I think that's the real advantage of waiting ten years to write about my experience.