One Body: My story of trauma and survival

Sarah Lovell never knew her biological father, and she first experienced sexual abuse at age eleven. Those early traumas led to a life of increasing instability. Lovell’s intimate partners beat and secluded her, and the fragile young woman disappeared into a falsely comforting haze of alcohol and drugs. She lost custody of her first two children, a son and a daughter. She gave birth to two more daughters, and temporarily lost custody of them as well, before a rock-bottom revelation finally forced her to get sober.

Her life seemed to be coming together, but her children began to experience heartbreaking traumas themselves. Her teenage daughter journeyed down a path of unthinkable sexual exploitation, while her vulnerable youngest daughter struggled through intense social trauma at school. Lovell, armed with a new career and a burgeoning sober self-confidence, took up the fight for her children.

One Body is the story of physical and emotional scars that ultimately teach invaluable lessons. Lovell hopes to inspire other women to keep standing up after life’s devastating blows knock them down.