One Sunny Afternoon

A Memoir of Trauma and Healing

by Rowan Jette Knox

tagged: personal memoirs, post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd), mental health

Description

From the bestselling author of Love Lives Here, a deeply personal memoir about facing life-long trauma head-on, and bravely healing the scars that endure.

For writer and human rights advocate Rowan Jetté Knox, the inspiring story of his family’s journey of love and acceptance, when both his child and partner came out as transgender one after the other, was the hopeful beginning to their new lives. Their tale, shared in Rowan’s memoir Love Lives Here and embraced by readers everywhere, quickly found its way to the top of bestseller lists.

Yet in the spring of 2020, Rowan began to experience targeted attacks on social media, and he soon became the subject of a small but very vocal group that criticized his book’s success and his advocacy work. The intensity of the backlash grew and drove Rowan to contemplate suicide. But instead of taking his life, on one sunny afternoon, he went to the hospital to seek help.

One Sunny Afternoon is a searing testament to Rowan Jetté Knox’s extraordinary reckoning of his past and present to find hope in his future. Triggered by the online harassment, he wades through his personal history and details the incidents of violence, addiction and sexual assault that have haunted him. When Rowan eventually receives a complex trauma disorder diagnosis and dedicates himself to recovery, he emerges with newfound strength, resiliency and confidence.

One Sunny Afternoon is a profoundly moving and candid account of how trauma can shape us rather than define us, and reveals how even in our darkest moments—and on our most hopeless days—light can find its way in.

About the Author

Rowan Jette Knox

Contributor Notes

ROWAN JETTÉ KNOX (formerly known as Amanda Jetté Knox) is an award-winning journalist, writer, certified professional coach, and human rights advocate with a special focus on LGBTQ2+ rights and mental health. Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family was a #1 bestseller, an Indigo Best Book of the Year and Staff Pick of the Month, and was chosen for the 2020 Canada Reads Longlist. His work has been featured on the BBC, CBC, The Today Show, O Magazine, The Social, and The Marilyn Denis Show. He was a 2019 Chatelaine Woman of the Year, a 2020 Top 25 Woman of Influence, and was chosen as one of 2020’s Most Influential Parents by Today’s Parent. He was the 2020 gold winner in Best Column from the Canadian Digital Publishing Awards. He lives in Toronto.

Editorial Review

“When you read this book you will understand how trauma, like snow drifts, builds up layer by thin layer. The highlight is the harrowing description of what teenage life can descend into, when, for whatever reasons, you has developed no boundaries. Eventually unsavoury characters infiltrate your life and you have no agency to keep them out. Since you have no control you become an alcoholic to deal with the tragedy of your life. Jette Knox takes you step by step through bullying, cruelty, and rape. She never rings a false note on this terrifying journey from girlhood to adulthood.”
—Catherine Gildiner, bestselling author of Good Morning, Monster
“Caught in the maelstrom of a past catastrophe, the anxious mind can crumble. And re-crumble. For Amanda Jetté Knox negative thinking was an invitation back to the lonely child who was bullied and sexually abused. From that young girl who found solace in drugs and alcohol, to the adult who was attacked by vicious trolls for sharing her story of a transgendered family, Knox shows us how a triumphant life is accessible despite enormous hurdles. Not only is PTSD navigable but with acceptance, vulnerability, and love, stored memories have the power to bring ultimate freedom.”
—Susan Doherty, award-winning author of The Ghost Garden

“Trauma and shame and the PTSD that come with them require frank and often uncomfortable discussions in order to get to the germ of the issues and move on in a healthy manner. Amanda Jetté Knox has had more of her share of all of it, and her journey back to sound mind, body, and relationships is a combination of harrowing and rewarding, inspiring and cautionary, and her brutally honest self-awareness is alternately welcome and witty. In the end, her life experiences and what she has gleaned from them will help anyone at any level of trauma and shame find their way back.”
—David Pevsner, author of Damn Shame

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