Queen of Hearts (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780998695341)

Florence St. John explores the complexity and resilience of three generations of women in her family. Daughter and mothers, sisters and cousins, all tangled in a knot. Despite their differences, there is an unbreakable connection that keeps them together. Recounting her childhood experiences, she reveals her family's dysfunction and sheds light on codependency issues. Overcoming the obstacles of her childhood, Florence made that promise that she wouldn't treat her daughter in the same "awful" way her parents treated her. No, she would do things differently. But when her daughter turned sixteen, she fell into a depression and began cutting herself. Florence tried everything to get her daughter back on track, but nothing seemed to work. She soon realized that, in many ways, her daughter represented herself growing up, with all the same anxieties and doubts that she had experienced. She looks back on her life as a child of an alcoholic father and absent mother to find answers.