Twilight Children

From the bestselling author of One Child comes the story of three of former special education teacher Torey Hayden’s most extraordinary challenges. Nine-year-old Cassandra, kidnapped by her father and found starving, dirty, and picking through garbage cans—is a child prone to long silences and erratic, violent behavior. Charming, charismatic four-year-old Drake will speak only in private to his mother—while his tough, unbending grandfather's demands for an immediate cure threatens to cause irreparable harm. And though she had never worked with adults, Hayden agrees to help fearful and silent eighty-two-year-old massive stroke victim Gerda—discovering in the process that a treatment's successes could prove nearly as heartbreaking as its limitations.     This gripping memoir follows three unforgettable journeys back from silence: Dissociative Disorder: Nine-year-old Cassandra, who survived a two-year abduction only to return with violent outbursts and terrifying, manipulative lies that hint at a fractured personality. Family Dysfunction: Four-year-old Drake, whose refusal to speak to anyone but his mother puts him in the crosshairs of a powerful grandfather demanding a cure at any cost. Case Studies in Psychology: Eighty-two-year-old Gerda, a stroke victim whose silence hides a lifetime of memories, presenting a challenge Hayden has never faced before—an adult mind locked away. An Inspirational Memoir: A raw and compassionate account from the front lines of special education, where a teacher’s patience and insight are the only tools she has to reconnect these lost souls to the world.