Shh... Don't Tell

by M.A. Moorer

Betrayed and silenced... Childhood abuse, her mother's denial, and pregnancy at 16 shatter a teenage girl's self-worth. But, with growing resolve, she takes the first steps toward a brighter future.

236 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2008

Reviews

[SEPTEMBER WITHERS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Young Widower: A Memoir by John W. Evans is a profoundly moving and unflinching account of love, sudden loss, and the enduring complexity of grief. Evans recounts the devastating moment in the Carpathian Mountains when his wife, Katie, was killed in a bear attack a tragedy so abrupt and violent that it fractures not only a shared future but the very framework of identity and meaning.

What distinguishes this memoir is its restraint and intellectual honesty. Evans does not sensationalize the horror of the event; instead, he bears witness to it with clarity and reflection. The narrative moves between memory and aftermath, between the tenderness of his relationship with Katie and the disorienting silence that follows her death. His prose is measured, thoughtful, and emotionally precise, capturing the paradox of grief how one can feel both frozen in time and forced to keep moving forward.

The book also explores the strange terrain of survival: living with in-laws in the shadow of shared loss, confronting well-meaning but inadequate consolations, and wrestling with the burden of telling a story no one is prepared to hear. Evans examines the “rhetoric of survival” the language people use to explain tragedy and quietly questions whether language can ever fully hold such pain.

Ultimately, Young Widower is not only a memoir of tragedy but of enduring love. It is a testament to how memory persists, how grief reshapes identity, and how survival is less about resolution and more about learning to carry what cannot be undone. Heartbreaking yet elegant, this memoir leaves a lasting emotional imprint.

[African Americans on the Move Book Club · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michelle Moorer¢s Shh Don¢t Tell, was one of the most heart felt life changing stories. Imagine being a small child and having your father touch you in a way that should only be for his wife. The life of Michelle is one of a journey through heart wrenching terror, and cries. Her mother who was a loving person but did not know how to be a mother closed her eyes to reality when not only Michelle¢s father molested her, but he mother¢s boyfriend. How can a mother not protect her own? This life leads Michelle to experience sex at a young age, and now the life she wanted to choose may not come to past. Moorer wrote this novel with so much clarity that I could vision every cry she wept. I could feel the turmoil from the abusive home she lived in. Shh Don¢t tell is not only a eye opener to child abuse, it opens your eyes to a young girls struggle to find peace. I highly recommend this novel to those who have been abused or know someone who has, and learn from this life changing story. Although the novel drops off keeping us wondering what is next. So I am ready for part 2.



Tamika Newhouse

AAMBC Reviewer