The Tell: Oprah's Book Club - Large Print by Amy Griffin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK - An astonishing memoir that explores how far we will go to protect ourselves, and the healing made possible when we face our secrets and begin to share our stories

"A beautiful account of the journey of courage it takes to face the truth of one's past."--Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something--a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself. "You're here, but you're not here," her daughter said to her one night. "Where are you, Mom?" So began Amy's quest to solve a mystery trapped in the deep recesses of her own memory--a journey that would take her into the burgeoning field of psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.

In her search for the truth, to understand and begin to recover from buried childhood trauma, Griffin interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women, asking, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? What kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are? With hope, heart, and relentless honesty, she points a way forward for all of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections--with others and ourselves.

Review Quotes

"The Tell is a beautiful account of the journey of courage it takes to face the truth of one's past, and the beneficial role that a combination of skillful therapy and psychedelics can play in putting one's life in order."--Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

"Transformative and illuminating . . . Through every agonizing revelation, Amy Griffin refuses to pave over her pain, opting instead to embrace the entirety of it. This is a powerful story of what can happen when self-compassion replaces fear as the governing force of one's life."--Chanel Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Know My Name

"The Tell is the most powerful memoir I've read in years. It's the rare story that will liberate you from shame, empower you to stop cycles of abuse, and make it safer for you to tell the truth. It left me filled with hope."--Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again

"Our minds may repress, but our bodies keep the score. The Tell is an honest book that will help us trust that wisdom."--Gloria Steinem

"Amy Griffin's courageous, generous memoir is both a reckoning with a terrible, all-too-common experience . . . and a searching and empathetic inquiry into the meanings of goodness, self-blame, and forgiveness."--Hanya Yanagihara, bestselling author of A Little Life (on Instagram)

"An extraordinary memoir paced like an expertly plotted thriller, each page unraveling the mystery of who Amy is and what happened to her . . . I will be thinking about this book for a long time."--Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women

"What a generous story. What beautiful writing, crafting, and pacing. And what a heart Amy Griffin has. Your own heart will break, and mend, as you read."--Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and Quiet, and host of the Quiet Life community

"Overflowing with heart and determination, The Tell is the story of a journey--the day-by-day, step-by-step, hard-won push through harrowing emotional terrain. In finding the words to tell her story, in showing what it is to trust herself, Amy Griffin shines a path forward through the dark."--Mariska Hargitay

"In this brave memoir, Amy Griffin reveals how confronting past wounds is the key to true healing, allowing us to live as thrivers, not merely survivors. Success in adulthood doesn't erase the scars of childhood trauma."--Nedra Glover Tawwab, New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace

"Lyrical . . . An important, wholly believable account of how long-buried but profoundly formative experiences finally emerge."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Amy Griffin lives in New York City with her husband, John, and their four children. She is the founder of the investment firm G9 Ventures.