In this heart-rending memoir, author F.H. Saidah exposes the bitter realities of growing up with abuse and alcoholism. As the firstborn and only daughter to young parents who had been forced into a loveless marriage, it became clear at a young age that her mother did not want or love her. While her biggest challenge growing up was figuring out a way to get along with and please her alcoholic mother, it would not be her only challenge.
the author candidly reveals her innermost thoughts and feelings when describing her ill-equipped parents' brutal struggle to get along with each other and raise three children. Consumed by their own problems, her mother and father were oblivious as to how their tumultuous relationship and violent behaviour were affecting their offspring - particularly their sensitive young daughter, who witnessed firsthand her father's brutal beatings and assaults. The cold, loveless and turbulent family environment they created was a breeding ground for the fear and anxiety that were the author's constant companions throughout her childhood. But even the violence she had observed in her formative years would not prepare her for the horror she would experience when her parents betrayed her at the tender age of twelve.
As Tender As a Mother's Love... is an honest and forthright depiction of how loveless parenting and all forms of abuse can adversely affect a child's psyche, self-esteem and outlook on life. Fortunately, the memoir's intensity and gravity is offset by the author's colorful friends and family members who had a positive influence in her life, and who provided the nurturing and kindness that enabled her to rise above the pitfalls of her traumaticchildhood.