The End of Tennessee - 9781643364933

The End of TennesseeA Memoir\nAuthor(s): Rachel M. Hanson\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: University of South Carolina Press, United States\nImprint: University of South Carolina Press\nISBN-13: 9781643364933, 978-1643364933\nSynopsis\nA haunting memoir of childhood trauma, building a life, and wounds that never heal \""Not a year before I ran away from home at seventeen, I stepped out of the house at dusk, still able to see shrub oaks thinned out for winter, fame flower, too, and dun clay so wet the smell of it seemed settled in my skin.\"" So begins Rachel M. Hanson's debut memoir about growing up impoverished, uneducated, and surrounded by violence. In lyrical, fragmented prose, she lays bare the impossible choice between self-preservation and her love for five younger siblings for whom she had become a second mother. As the years pass, Hanson struggles with guilt for leaving her siblings as she slowly realizes she could not save them. The End of Tennessee is a testament to a sister'.