Suzannah Lessard, The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family (New York: Delta Books, 1997).

This is a beautifully written book about the author's extended family. Her own experiences of sexual abuse are described rather briefly. The book focuses on family patterns and the story of her grandfather, the famous architect, Stanford White. The book helped me understand family patterns, particularly of not protecting. I also loved the way she writes about the landscape and about buildings that were important to her family as a way of expressing the movement of her unconscious. This book is in part about the world of the social elite, and it may be particularly useful to people who grew up in that world.

Elizabeth Julie Mikal, Until Darkness Holds No Fear: Healing a Multiple Personality (Boulder CO: Books Beyond Borders, 1995). Books Beyond Borders: P.O. Box 18929, Boulder CO 80308-1929.

This book highlights the role of the multiple system itself in directing the healing process. It begins with a little bit of detail on her abuse by her stepmother, but the large majority of the book deals with the healing process. It is one of the most vivid descriptions of an inner-world that I have read, but her alters are so well organized and clear and take such care to help her through the healing process, that I couldn't really relate to her story.

Sarah E. Olson, Becoming One: A Story of Triumph Over Multiple Personality Disorder (Pasadena CA: Trilogy Books, 1997).

I recommend this book. It is a much more modern treatment than most of the books available; in particular, it does not treat DID as something rare and strange. The focus is very much on the healing story and on the therapy process, though there are some graphic details of abuse (by her mother's lover).

The book includes many excerpts from journal entries, letters, and tapes of therapy sessions. It is particularly interesting for its discussion of her relationships with her sisters and her father. I was distracted by the organization of the book into chapters focused on different topics instead of a more chronological story of the healing process. But if you are looking for a book you can dip into for information on particular issues that might be useful--it even has an index. One caution: the book puts a very heavy emphasis on integration as the goal, though she acknowledges how difficult it was, at first, to live as a single person.

Yvette M. Pennacchia, Healing the Whole: The Diary of an Incest Survivor (London and New York: Cassell, 1994).

This book is a therapy journal, with very few abuse details. It is interesting for her relationship both with her therapist and with her 12-step sponsor. A great variety of issues are covered, with particular attention to issues of intimacy and sexuality. She does not discuss multiple personality, but does work a lot with an inner-child who is quite independent. I didn't feel comfortable with the book, but I'm not sure whether that was because of the book or my own issues.

Betsy Petersen, Dancing With Daddy: A Childhood Lost and a Life Regained (New York: Bantam, 1991).

This is a story of father-daughter incest in a stable-looking upper-middle-class family--her father was a doctor. The emphasis is on family secrets. Some good material on putting the pieces of her life back together. I read this book a couple of years ago and it hasn't stayed with me.

Jane Phillips, The Magic Daughter: A Memoir of Living With Multiple Personality Disorder (New York: Viking, 1995).

I loved this book, but partly that is because Phillips held her job as a college professor throughout her recovery process. I indentified very strongly with that aspect of the story. It is a story mostly of her life as a multiple and of the therapy process (including the slow process of realizing that she was multiple). There are a few descriptions of sexual abuse in later childhood, but Phillips became multiple initially because of terrible experiences when hospitalized for medical problems.

Sue William Silverman, Because I Remember Terror Father I Remember You (Athens: Univ. of Georgia Press, 1996).

This book tells a story of father-daughter incest in a seemingly-successful upper-middle-class family. It is particularly striking for the mother's ability to ignore what was going on and for Silverman's description of how the only way she could survive was to seek to please her father sexually. The book is primarily an autobiography of the abuse; there is little attention to the therapy process but some discussion of how she put her life back together. I found this book more useful than most books that focus on detailed descriptions of abuse; she taught me more of how to understand and forgive the role of the child. She does acknowledge multiple personalities but does not give much attention to multiplicity as an issue.