"When I was growing up . . ." In the first book of this three-part series, Carrie Jane recalls her rural North Carolina upbringing during the mid-1960s. Even at the age of four, she finds her childhood rife with confusion, abuse, and flawed adults. She tells a remarkably poignant story, taking you on a terrifying journey of what it is like for a child to live through the horrors of war - - not the kind fought on battlefields, but warfare carried out within the walls of one's own home. Even during her more defiant moments, Carrie Jane learns a painful truth that the small, the weak, the innocent cannot always defeat the giants and boogeymen in their life. And no matter how hard she tries, she cannot escape the violence, the cruelty, the insanity so many children are subjected to. Only fear fills the void that love never visited. While her physical wounds eventually scar over - - leaving reminders of her heart-rending past - - can a strong-willed child ever recover from the psychological damage inflicted by those she calls family?