The Lost Years: Surviving a Mother and Daughter's Worst Nightmare

Book overview Description Editorial Reviews Kristina, the second of four children, begins by telling how a little sip of vodka sipped secretly at a party her parents were giving, started her on a pathway to addiction.

In that instant, alcohol became her pathway to comfort.

Over the next 8 years she sinks further into addiction moving on to cocaine and methamphetamines.

In telling her story, she gives a brutally honest description of her addiction and crimes until she nearly dies on the floor of a homeless shelter completely alone at the age of 21.Adding a heart-wrenching counterpart, to each chapter of the book, Kristina' s mother, Connie, gives a parent’ s picture of what was happening throughout her child' s experience.

She describes her powerlessness to help her addicted daughter, the break- up of her unhappy marriage and how she comes to terms with her own co-dependency.

She also describes the worst decision a mother ever has to make: to turn her oldest daughter out of her house, sending her onto the streets, in order to protect herself and her other children.Then follows the remarkable story of Kristina' s recovery as she spends months in rehab, her mother' s 'tough love' and the years of acclimating herself to living a normal life.

Ultimately, she reclaims herself, her place in her family and a new and loving relationship with her mother.The Lost Years is a beautifully written memoir of survival and transformation that reminds us all that so much good can come from so much that is bad.Endorsements for The Lost Years'The Lost Years is one of the most important books on family addiction and recovery that I have come across in years.

It allows the readers a rare, simultaneous look into the hearts and minds of both the co-dependent and the addict.

Kristina and her m