With A Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom

By Lucy Daniels

Book Overview

Having written a bestselling book at 22, survived a harrowing battle with anorexia nervosa, and pursued a successful career as a clinical psychologist, Lucy Daniels has led a remarkable life. In With a Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Freedom, her first book in 40 years, Daniels shares the experience of overcoming emotional hardships and gaining valuable insights from them, through psychoanalysis, that has enabled her to help others.

With a Woman's Voice is Daniels' memoir of the struggles she faces as a writer and a doctor of psychology, struggles that began at a very young age and continued long after the success of her two novels. As the child of a wealthy newspaper family, Daniels was emotionally deprived by her demanding parents and plagued by her own feelings of inadequacy and helplessness. Sent to a mental hospital for treatment of her anorexia, she spent years enduring brutal regimens of electroshock therapy, insulin injections, and force-feedings. It was during this time that she wrote Caleb, My Son.

Caleb, My Son became a national bestseller, earning accolades for its portrayal of racial and generational conflict in the South of the 50s. Her second book, High on a Hill, was a fictional account of the time she spent in the hospital. Her novels won her a Guggenheim fellowship and extensive praise.

After this early success, Daniels succumbed to writer's block that lasted several decades. She tells in her memoir of her decision to examine and resolve her problems, leading her to seek psychoanalytic treatment while pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology. After years of examining her difficulties and learning how they could be treated, she created a foundation that helps artists overcome emotional disorders and gain creative insight from both self-examination and psychotherapy.

With a Woman's Voice recalls these achievements, and the difficult years that led up to them, with insight, humor, and wisdom. Daniels provides a moving account of

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568332505
• ISBN13: 9781568332505
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Madison Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

a compelling, wrenching read

Lucy Daniels' story of overcoming her upbringing by narcissitic parents and of surviving anorexia (and the various "cures" for it imposed on her as a teenager) is an emotionally-draining read. Daniels is a woman who went through a private hell from childhood and into adulthood, but managed to finally free herself. In her 40's she was able to go to college, acquire a PhD, and start a career as a successful clinical psychologist. She attributes much of her great progress to the help of her psychotherapist. This book is a confirmation that good therapy is worth the investment (both of time and money) even late in life. I highly recommend it!

Compelling style--reads like a novel

Lucy Daniels has written a book that will inspire hope in all readers who struggle to master the trauma of childhood. She is a gifted, award-winning author, whose compelling style combines with stunning candor to make this book read like an intriguing novel. And yet this is her true life story --one of enormous courage, creativity, and ultimately redemption.

With a Woman's Voice: A Writer's Struggle for Emotional Free

Lucy Daniels captures my complete attention with her courageous story about growing up in a prominent NC family, struggling with anorexia, surviving mental institutions in the 1950s, and emerging, after finally receiving the treatment she so desperately needed, stronger and determined to help others. I was so immersed in the story, each chapter pushed me into the next! A must read!!