Inside This Place, Not of It

Essential reading. These women's stories compel us to recognize their humanity, tenacity, and value as people, and reveal a hidden and heart- wrenching reality. -Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black Inside This Place, Not of It is precisely the kind of book we need now. In reading these narratives-so skillfully assembled, and with the accompanying statistics and data which let readers see how America and its states are complicit in taking away lives and dignity from so many women-what stands out is the poignant sense of abandonment and sadness that changed their lives from childhood, and the astonishing strength and perseverance that let them survive in prison. I will never forget these women, or this book. -Susan Straight, author of Take One Candle Light A Room I am passionately, ardently grateful for the existence of this book. How else would I have ever heard the voices of these women? Where would I gain insight or understanding of the lives they describe: harrowing, riveting, rife with misogyny, and utterly unacceptable in a country that values human rights. -Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture This is an incredibly important, urgently readable book. I stayed up all night with these forgotten women, who have encountered, in present-day America, levels of cruelty and humiliation that have somehow not undercut their ability to express themselves with verve and grace and dignity. -Rachel Kushner, author of The Flamethrowers