Who's Protecting Me?

Like every woman, Antoinette dreams of a life free from the burdens of her childhood. Until she breaks her silence about the abuse she has suffered at the hands of a family member at age six, she believes she has no chance for love, laughter or a happy ending. Life deals Antoinette many unforeseen setbacks: unstable housing, homelessness, a failed marriage and the murder of her sister—but it isn’t enough to kill her grit or determination. She rises from being a confused, angry little girl struggling to understand a life she didn’t choose to become a wise, confident raising two sons while she earns an MBA. In the tradition of Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Sapphire’s Push, Antoinette White delivers a heartrending, sometimes funny story of a young free-spirited girl navigating poverty-plagued Gary, Indiana in the late 1970s and 1980s. Her life is a blueprint for how to prevail against the lingering pain of incest. As a motivational speaker, Antoinette White has inspired countless women in similar crises to be resilient. This is the story of where her own resilience began.