At the Tender Age: How She Survived When No One Was Watching (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9798992536010)

A powerful and unflinching story of survival, resilience, and the courage to break the silence.

Tess has spent her entire life walking on eggshells. At home, she is a shadow, trying to stay out of the way, trying to endure. No one sees the bruises that never quite fade, the scars hidden beneath her clothes, or the way fear coils in her stomach every time she hears JJ's footsteps.

At school, she's the troublemaker, the problem child-too loud, too restless, too much. Ms. Walker, her strict teacher, sees Tess as nothing more than a disruption. The whispers follow her: Ugly Tess. Weird Tess. But no one asks why she lashes out, why she refuses to sit still, why she roars like an animal just to drown out the hurt.

No one sees her.

Until one day, she lets the truth slip.

With a single sentence, everything changes. Suddenly, the world Tess has known-the world she has endured-begins to crack open. But speaking the truth doesn't come without consequences. Will anyone believe her? Will she be strong enough to step into the unknown, to fight for herself, even when it feels impossible?

Heart-wrenching and deeply moving, At the Tender Age of Five is a gripping tale of a young girl's fight for freedom, the scars that linger long after the bruises fade, and the hope that-even in the darkest moments-there is a way out.

For readers of powerful, emotional, and survivor-driven novels like A Child Called "It" and The Glass Castle.