2024 Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards Winner in Memoir

“Liz Kinchen has written a compelling and courageous memoir that details the traumatic emotional impact of a relationship beginning at the age of fourteen with her middle school English teacher, a relationship masquerading as love. Kinchen recounts with depth and compassion the effect of what, only years later, she learns to recognize as sexual abuse, and its impact on subsequent relationships in her adult life. Kinchen is a fine writer, eloquently weaving together the emotional and spiritual strands that eventually bring her into wholeness and healing. Light in Bandaged Places is a book that deserves to be read, speaking as it does to the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of authentic love.”
—Sarah Rossiter, spiritual director and author of The Human Season, Beyond This Bitter Air, and Natural Life with No Parole

“This is a beautifully written, must-read memoir for anyone interested in family dynamics, deception, and resilience. It gives an honest, transparent, firsthand view of the emotional reactions that victims of sexual abuse can experience. In her quest for a meaningful life, Liz shows us how the wound can be a doorway to our spiritual essence, where we find inner peace and joy.”
—Sheida White, author of Connecting with the One Consciousness

“With kindness, nuance, and generosity of spirit, Liz Kinchen shines light into corners darkened by shame and secrecy. . . . From a childhood of neglect to an inappropriate relationship with a teacher in high school, Kinchen wove a cocoon of disconnection and fear. In Light in Bandaged Places, we watch her emerge, sometimes indelicately, into a life of embodied wholeness in which she is finally not afraid anymore. A gripping, intimate account of a woman’s journey to wholeness.”
—Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, author of Threads of Awakening

“Light in Bandaged Places is a brave, beautiful book about overcoming betrayal and sexual abuse by a trusted teacher. Liz Kinchen’s healing journey is an inspiration that will resonate with those searching for answers within progressive Christianity and Buddhist teachings. This insightful memoir is full of painful yet poignant stories that illustrate the author’s quest to find authentic love and her true spiritual home.”
—Vanessa Linsey, author of Metta Mom, A Mindful Guide to Managing Your Mood and Your Brood

“When her connection with her middle school teacher—one that felt safe and mutually-respectful—crosses boundaries into grooming and adulterous behavior, Liz must overcome the confusion and deceitfulness of this early and intimate relationship as she navigates her passage into adulthood. Light in Bandaged Places offers its readers a courageous examination of the long-lasting effects of trauma during vulnerable teen years.”
—Anne Reeder Heck, author of A Fierce Belief in Miracles

“This memoir is a vulnerable account of the sexual abuse Kinchen, the author, suffered at the hands of a trusted middle school teacher. . . . This is an important book for anyone who is suffering with brokenness from the silent shame and feelings of unworthiness. Through her honesty, she shines a light of hope as she goes through the process of bandaging the wounds of betrayal; she sparks a conversation that allowed her to heal her own darkness that will open doors for others too. Powerful and moving.”
—Meg Nocero, award-winning author of Butterfly Awakens: A Memoir of Transformation Through Grief, The Magical Guide to Bliss, and Sparkle & Shine

“Kinchen offers us a meticulously written, honest, and unflinching account of her path from early-on betrayal through her impressively mined history of love to a courageous, exultant emergence. This beautifully rendered memoir invites us into the journey of an intrepid woman’s aching need to not only reclaim her story but, just as importantly, to revive her faith in the holiness of one’s lived truth. It is larger than one person’s recovery; it serves as a benediction for all of us seeking wholeness.”
—Nina Carmel, MSW, RYT, CMT, founding director of The Therapy Center for Mind and Body, guiding teacher of The Awareness Training Program, psychotherapist, and meditation teacher

“Liz’s book is an inspirational story of abuse and overcoming childhood trauma. Her story is that of many survivors who may not see the full extent of sexual abuse till they are older. As she tells her story of childhood, teen years, and adulthood, her book draws you into her story—feeling the pain that she endured, and the confusion, and celebrating her growth. As a fellow survivor, I was reminded of the power of survivors, their incredible gifts and their resiliency. A must-read for survivors and their families.”
—Elizabeth Sullivan, founder of EmpowerSurvivors

“Written with generous vulnerability and uncommon grace, Liz Kinchen’s memoir Light in Bandaged Places is an unflinching exploration of self-discovery, faith, resilience, and love. Kinchen’s hopeful honesty serves as an invitation to us all to allow light into our own broken places and find strength in the mending.”
—Julie Carrick Dalton, author of The Last Beekeeper

“A deeply personal look at how a predator’s actions reverberate throughout someone’s entire lifetime innumerable ways. Liz Kinchen’s beautifully constructed memoir shines a light on the insidious nature of sexual abuse by a trusted adult. Her thoughtful examination also provides hope for survivors searching for authentic healing.”
—Melinda G. McCall, DVM, author of Driving Home Naked

“Liz shares from deep in her soul the doubts and almost unbearable pain of survivorship from a menacing child predator. While uniquely her own, her story offers light for many others seeking to swim back to the surface after abuse disguised as ‘love.’ The journey to become whole again—to emerge stronger, wiser, and more resilient after suffering—is a universal tale. Read this to feel the strength, power, and courage.”
—Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, MA, author of Pilates Fusion: Well-being for Body, Mind & Spirit

“Light in Bandaged Places is a moving, introspective, and honest memoir. The first half of the book is the story of abuse by a trusted teacher. In the second half, Kinchen takes us on her journey of healing, from childhood trauma to wholeness. The story is beautifully interwoven with reflections on complex family relationships. Kinchen’s writing is raw, brave, and full of hope.”
—Kathy Elkind, author of To Walk It Is To See It: 1 Couple, 98 Days, 1400 Miles on Europe’s GR5