Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 My parents were very good at hiding the trouble in their marriage. They rarely fought openly, so from an eight-year-old's perspective everything appeared normal. Their marriage began to fracture during the early 1980s, and by 1983 it was a marriage in name only. #2 I had to deal with Mike's drinking and violence every day. I eventually bought a house just up the road in Liberty Park, Queens, and my mother began working for Con Edison, a New York electricity provider, to earn a better salary.