My heart raged against my ribs.

The stench of the men's depravity hung in the air like a fog of corruption.

A fateful chance encounter brings Joan face to face with the therapist she has waited for all her life. Hopeless and desolate, she asks, "Will you take me?"

Joan is a married woman of substance and faith. At age 32, her mind broke open, and her life fell apart. She is diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder. In treatment, Joan reveals she suffered unrelenting sexual abuse throughout her childhood. Her only defense was to flee into a dissociative state, during which her mind created 52 alternate personalities to protect her from the unimaginable.

Raven and the Hummingbird invites the reader into the therapy room to witness each triumph and setback. Her path to recovery is littered with life's obstacles and often smothered by exhaustion. In her quest to piece together her fragmented mind, Joan must endure the unbearable truth and remember the unthinkable.

Ultimately, Joan's inspiring story exemplifies the capacity of the human heart to rise above the unimaginable and usher in a singular authentic life.