Maxine Premer was no stranger to hardship. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, her childhood was largely defined by her father's alcoholism and frequent brushes with the law. As the oldest of six children, she grew up quickly in Colorado and Nebraska amidst a backdrop of isolation, poverty, and illness. As a teenager, she encouraged her mother to divorce, which led her family to live with Maxine's grandfather. Ever a tyrant, he soon forced her to drop out of school. With the support of her son Gary, she began writing her life story in her late seventies. As much as this journey brought Maxine closer to the past, it also illuminated the present, enabling her to better understand her life and heal the wounds that shaped it. All book sale proceeds net of publication expense will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association.