Even Dogs Go Home to Die by Linda St. John

Raw, evocative, and unforgettable. The snapshot pictures that sum up the young life of acclaimed outsider artist and author Linda St. John have the power to shock and disturb us as she offers a glimpse into her dirt-poor childhood in southern Illinois. These stories tell the tale of her father's casual brutality and her mother's cruel indifference, and how Linda and her siblings create their own kind of sanctuary that protects them from the violence they faced daily. But more than a tale of heartbreak, Linda St. John poignantly reveals her own indomitable spirit when, through her father's illness, she discovers the redemptive powers of love. With prose as haunting as it is precise, Even Dogs Go Home to Die is one of the most original, moving, funny, and heartbreaking memoirs of recent years.