Hardback : £15.19
'Extraordinary' - Kate Mosse
'Electric' - Lemn Sissay
'Searing' - Julia Samuel
One Omaha winter day in 1978, when Debora Harding was just fourteen, she was abducted at knife-point, thrown into a van, assaulted, held for ransom, and left to die.
But what if this wasn't the most traumatic, defining event in her childhood?
Undertaking a radical project, Debora Harding dexterously shifts between the past and present to unravel her story. From the immediate aftermath to the possibility of restorative justice twenty years later, Dancing with the Octopus lays bare the social and political forces that act upon us after the experience of serious crime. A vivid, sly and intimate portrait of one family's disintegration, this is a darkly humorous and ground-breaking narrative of reckoning and recovery.
'Extraordinary' - Kate Mosse
'Electric' - Lemn Sissay
'Searing' - Julia Samuel
One Omaha winter day in 1978, when Debora Harding was just fourteen, she was abducted at knife-point, thrown into a van, assaulted, held for ransom, and left to die.
But what if this wasn't the most traumatic, defining event in her childhood?
Undertaking a radical project, Debora Harding dexterously shifts between the past and present to unravel her story. From the immediate aftermath to the possibility of restorative justice twenty years later, Dancing with the Octopus lays bare the social and political forces that act upon us after the experience of serious crime. A vivid, sly and intimate portrait of one family's disintegration, this is a darkly humorous and ground-breaking narrative of reckoning and recovery.
A fierce, strikingly redemptive exploration of the impact of traumatic violence on victim, perpetrator and society
Debora Harding wrote the final version of this story after watching Christine Blasey Ford's testimony against Trump nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, in 2018. A writer whose work has appeared in the Guardian, Daily Mail and elsewhere, she has trained as a mediator in restorative justice and worked in US politics, amongst other things. The mother of two children, she spent her childhood in Nebraska and Iowa and now lives in England with her British husband.
A searing literary work that will help many of us see trauma in a
different light. In strong and powerful prose Debora Harding shows
us what it means to move forward through grief.
*This Too Shall Pass*
Dancing with the Octopus is a brave and authentic picture of the
tailwinds of trauma, the limits of human forgiveness and what it
takes to maintain hope in a world bent on breaking us. Highly
readable, and deeply moving.
*No Visible Bruises*
A gripping account of one woman's confrontation with the terror and
heartbreak of her past. Harding combines true crime and family saga
to illustrate the aftershocks of trauma, and the courage,
tenderness, and humor that recovery requires.
*Abandon Me*
Debora Harding writes with a stunningly original mixture of
insight, wit, and humanity about a life packed with so much drama,
loss and resilience that you can't believe its not an epic work of
fiction.
*The Truants*
Extraordinary, so powerful and like nothing I've read. Astonishing
book. It deserves to be the most massive hit.
*Kate Mosse*
I have just finished reading Dancing with the Octopus... You are
lucky! The electricity of this true crime memoir awaits you.
*Lemn Sissay (via Twitter)*
Debora Harding's book is a beautiful and exacting monument to
resilience and recovery
*Daily Telegraph*
It's as gripping as any thriller and as moving as any novel you're
ever likely to read.
*Paul Chahidi (via Twitter)*
Incredible ... a memoir like few others ... seek it out
*Woman's Hour*
Darkly humorous . . . Harding draws a complex web of interlinked
experiences to show how suffering can set up shop for good in a
family and a town
*CrimeReads - Most Anticipated Crime Books of 2020*
Gripping ... written with such a light touch that you are drawn in
straight away from the moment you open it
*BBC Radio 2*
A sharp, compelling recollection of abuse, gaslighting, and the
process of trauma... Ultimately, Dancing with the Octopus is a book
about telling and the power of retelling-an act carried out with
wit, grace, and humour by an author of her own narrative truth
*Cambridge Review of Books*
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