This Happened to Me

A Memoir

By: Kate Price

Narrated by: Kate Price

A Washington Post Noteworthy Book (of July and August); a Book Riot Best Nonfiction Book of Summer; WBUR (Boston Public Radio) Twelve Books to Read This Summer

“Price not only rises above the hurt and hate, she uses her hard-won insights to shine a light for others.” —Jeannette Walls, #1 New York Times bestselling author

For readers of Educated, The Glass Castle, and Know My Name comes a powerful new memoir that is a remarkable testament to survival and resilience. At once harrowing and exquisite, haunting and inspiring, Kate Price’s story will leave readers with a profound assurance in the power to heal.

Kate Price grew up in a small mill town in central Pennsylvania with her sister and parents in northern Appalachia. At the insistence of her mother, and through her academic accomplishments, Price escaped the unbroken cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, mental illness, and abuse that had plagued her family for generations. She started a new life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in pursuit of her master’s and PhD. But despite having left this dark world behind, it still kept a firm grip on her.

Overcome with unexplainable grief and sadness and having sustained a series of hazy flashbacks accompanied by a “chilling of her blood and uncomfortable feeling in her bones,” Price sought out Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a trauma specialist to help heal her constant emotional pain through EMDR therapy. He went on to write the bestselling book, The Body Keeps the Score, which features Price's story, as the two worked together to find out about her past. When Price, whose brain had been protecting her by shutting out these horrific memories, felt safe enough, she along with van der Kolk as her guide, discovered what that darkness that lay within her was. Her father had abused and trafficked her as a child.

Price grappled with what had been revealed. Did this really happen to her? How could a parent do this to a child? A dedicated researcher and academic, she knew she needed confirmation, proof that what she had remembered had happened. And so began a 10-year quest alongside a journalist, to prove what Price knew to be her truth. With many trips back to the hometown she thought she had left forever, the two eventually found the hard-earned evidence Price had been searching for.

In this exquisitely rendered, transformative memoir, Price describes how she broke free of that which had defined her childhood and went on to create a purpose-driven life and family, on her own terms. Eventually returning to the same Appalachian community to use her education and advocacy to help ensure children are given the attention, protection, and services that she never received.

From victim to advocate, from fearful child to empowered adult, and from despair to triumph, This Happened to Me is a story of astonishing resilience and breathtaking determination.

Eye opening

Now I know why I’ve always felt so scared at truck and rest stops especially on the highways in that area. I knew bad things were happening but this horror was beyond my imagination. Thank you for the education.

Resilience and Triumph

An incredible journey and very well written. Although the authors cadence was robotic, the story was compelling and held my attention.

Still Standing

Thank you Katie! Your story is gripping and beautiful and validating for all of us with hard to believe stories. Your story is far beyond belief. To come out of all that abuse, not only still standing but so successful is such a beautiful story. You are amazing. 💜

Brave

This is going to help so many people. I admire the authors bravery and dedication to protect children.

Retelling was amazing

I thought it was a lot and a little long. However I understand why. I wasn’t overly thrilled with the narrators tone and the reading of the story.