Becoming Anna

"My grandmother says I destroyed my mother before I was even born." What does it mean for a child to hear sentiments like this from the family that is supposed to love her? What does it tell her about what kind of woman she can become? In Becoming Anna, a poignant and painful memoir of her first sixteen years, Anna Michener describes the effect of words like these and deeds even worse.

At the age of sixteen she finally found a new family, and she found her own voice. Changing her name to Anna and adopting the last name of her new legal guardians, she wrote Becoming Anna as an early step toward recovery, a self-affirmation, and a powerful plea on behalf of all the other children who still suffer.