Cinder Girl

Growing Up on America's Fringe

By: Holly Thompson Rehder

Narrated by: Holly Thompson Rehder

Cinder Girl sits in the rarest class of memoir—a towering literary triumph which melds searing and tragic personal history with an incredible story of resilience, hope, and civic success.

Growing up on welfare, food stamps, and Greyhound buses, Holly Thompson Rehder quit school at fifteen to help take care of her mother and younger sister after a devastating car accident. Getting married and pregnant soon thereafter, like so many other young girls caught in the poverty-cycle, Holly decided that the life she had been born into was not what she intended to give her child.

But unlike others who wind up mired in a lifetime of poverty, dysfunction, and despair, Holly used her resourcefulness, faith, and sheer stubborn American grit to fight her way out of the gutter.

Two decades later she was a successful businesswoman. And today, she is a rising political star who serves as an inspiration to young women across the state of Missouri—and indeed, the entire nation—all while never forgetting where she came from. She worked her butt off to help so many others born into seemingly helpless circumstances.

As a rare lawmaker who speaks candidly from raw personal experience, in Cinder Girl, Rehder rises above standard political prose to provide an unvarnished look inside the worst of American poverty—those living in the margins. Rehder challenges us to recall the plight of those far less fortunate, who struggle without the opportunities most of us take for granted.

©2022 Holly Thompson Rehder (P)2022 Recorded Books

Intense.. Invested.. So Inspired!

❤️‍🔥WOW!
I've never gotten so invested in a book, that made my heart pound with hurt, take my breathe away, cry, make me laugh, then challenge me.. INTENSE! So well written, I couldnt put it down! Only GOD!

The final chapter (forgiveness) is my favorite💗 and something I think I'll reference back on. So moving, eye opening, and an inspiration.
#innerbeauty #treasure #challenged #testimony #strength #onlyGod

Oh my heart

Just one of the most amazing stories of hope I’ve ever read in my 46 yrs of life.

Thank you Senator Rehder

I am thankful that Senator Rehder gave us this look inside of her life. I loved that you are an open book when it comes to your faith!

Heartbreaking and Gripping

This book - read by the author in an affecting accent - is one of the most powerfully moving books I've ever come across. I am sure it will stay with me for a long, long time. I can't recommend it more highly.

Outstanding, eye opening and life changing!!

I like my daughter (Holly's daughter in law) laughed, cried, got angry at the abusers in her life; as it brought back memories of my own abusers, I felt the hurt her heart felt from the struggle of her daughter's addiction, as I have had that same pain in my life from my son's struggles!! Thank you Holly for sharing ur memories, hurts, struggles, but most of all your victories and triumphs!! You are an amazing woman with many hats and titles u wear well. Thank u for giving others hope in their own life in knowing how God can change anyone's situation...Good job my friend!!❤️❤️ Can't wait for ur next best seller! 😉