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Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
For readers of I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy and The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, a candid and heart-wrenching memoir about child abuse, family secrets, and the healing that begins once the truth is revealed and the past is confronted.
Andrea is four and a half the first time her father, David, gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is blind. Marlene’s hysterical blindness lasts for weeks, but her willful blindness lasts decades. The abuse continues, and Andrea spends a childhood living with a secret she can’t tell and a shame she is too afraid to name.
Despite it, she survives. She builds a life and tells herself she is fine. But at age thirty-three, an unwanted grope on a New York City subway triggers her past. Suddenly unable to remember how to forget, Andrea is forced to confront her past—and finally begin to heal.
This brave debut offers honest insight into a survivor’s journey. Readers will feel Andrea’s pain, her fear, and her shame—yet they will also feel her hope. And like Andrea, they will come to understand an important truth: though healing is complicated, it is possible to find joy and even grace in the wake of the most profound betrayals.
Andrea is four and a half the first time her father, David, gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is blind. Marlene’s hysterical blindness lasts for weeks, but her willful blindness lasts decades. The abuse continues, and Andrea spends a childhood living with a secret she can’t tell and a shame she is too afraid to name.
Despite it, she survives. She builds a life and tells herself she is fine. But at age thirty-three, an unwanted grope on a New York City subway triggers her past. Suddenly unable to remember how to forget, Andrea is forced to confront her past—and finally begin to heal.
This brave debut offers honest insight into a survivor’s journey. Readers will feel Andrea’s pain, her fear, and her shame—yet they will also feel her hope. And like Andrea, they will come to understand an important truth: though healing is complicated, it is possible to find joy and even grace in the wake of the most profound betrayals.
Product Details
- Publisher: She Writes Press (October 14, 2025)
- Length: 256 pages
- ISBN13: 9781647429959
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Raves and Reviews
"Leeb has written my favorite kind of memoir, frantically alive, unflinching, breaking my heart in the best ways. I felt her with me on every page, and by chapter three, we were best friends."—Joshua Mohr, author of Model Citizen
“Andrea Leeb’s debut memoir is beautifully rendered with heartbreaking sensory detail. Her journey from a daughter betrayed to a young woman redeemed haunts as much as it inspires.”—Elle Johnson, Executive Producer of Bosch, and author of An Officer’s Daughter
“Wrenching, unforgettable, and, ultimately, illuminating, Such a Pretty Picture carried my heart away.”—Samantha Dunn, Pulitzer Prize Nominated journalist, and author of Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life
“Andrea Leeb’s powerful memoir, Such a Pretty Picture, is an immensely compelling, tender, honest, and ultimately courageous reckoning with abuse, betrayal, and the false promises of new starts.”—Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus, and author of The Magic Eye: A Memoir of Saving a Life and Place in the Age of Anxiety
“With exquisite writing, Andrea bravely explores the wounds that shaped her and the healing that comes from confronting her past.”—Wendy Adamson, author of Mother Load
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- Book Cover Image (jpg): Such a Pretty Picture eBook 9781647429959
