In her debut memoir, MOTHER LOAD, Wendy Adamson shared her story of landing in county jail after shooting her husband’s mistress and ultimately finding freedom from addiction. Her latest book, INCORRIGIBLE, acts as a prequel, taking us back to growing up with a mom who was a regular in the state mental hospital, only to find herself institutionalized there as a teen.
Adamson’s memoir recounts a girl’s spiral of self-destruction in the throes of unspoken grief after her mother’s suicide. Depressed and constantly at odds with an overwhelmed father, she runs away until she’s arrested by the police. At fourteen years old she finds herself plucked from a privileged life and forced to navigate the criminal justice system of probation officers, juvenile halls and foster homes.
“Wendy Adamson pulls no punches in her new memoir ‘Incorrigible’. She takes us through the teenage angst and self-destruction that ensues after her mother’s suicide, landing her in psych wards, juvenile halls and foster homes. Goodbye–Privilege; hello– Criminal Justice System. Snappy dialogue, striking descriptions and heartbreaking candor create a difficult but fascinating journey.”
— Amy Dresner, author of “My Fair Junkie: Junkie: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean”
Incorrigible is a raw, gripping, coming-of-age story of teenage struggle with familial dysfunction, addiction, and incarceration, until finally, against nearly insurmountable odds, the author survives, later finding empowering new purpose in her life.