Self's Stony Soil: Trafficked Children
An Autobiographical Novella in Verse
by Wendy Hoffman
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Written in free-style poetry, a novella, Self's Stony Soil reveals the horrors of sex trafficking. A child is trafficked. Taken by airplanes to other countries, she was packed tight into cages, abused by politicians, the wealthy, royalty, and known people in the world. She has amnesia until late in life. That begins the healing of these deep scars. She begins to find her true self. This is her story.
"Self's Stony Soil speaks to the lifelong consequences to victims of sex trafficking and their efforts to reclaim their humanity and autonomy. Sex trafficking robs the individual of free will. It is demoralizing and soul-crushing. But Self's Stony Soil reveals even the fragility of a damaged life can reveal hidden strength and the perseverance to overcome the nightmare of sex trafficking and lead to growth, healing, and peace.”
~ James Randall Noblitt and Pamela Perskin Noblitt, Editors/Authors of RITUAL ABUSE in the TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: Psychological, Forensic, Social, and Political Considerations
“In this book of heart-wrenching poetry, we grasp the reality of the horrors inflicted on children through the memories of a girl born into a family who tortured her and trafficked her to unspeakably sadistic offenders.
“They locked her body in iron cages, they locked her mind from herself, and they tried to destroy her soul. They thought they could silence her forever… and now she writes. So, we must listen, so we may hear the other children, children like Wendy, ‘children taught that they are nothing’ [from her poem: The 'Righteous'].”
~ Ellen Lacter, Ph.D., Contributing Author to Ritual Abuse in the Twenty-First Century: Psychological, Forensic, Social, and Political Implications, Randall Noblitt and Pamela Perskin-Noblitt (2008)
“Wendy Hoffman’s poems offer a raw and unflinching glimpse into the soul of a little girl trapped between sex trafficking and the desperate attempt to pretend these sights and sounds never happened. As she struggled to piece her brain back together – shattered by electroshocks meant to erase her memories – her words bear witness to both unimaginable suffering and extraordinary resilience. Reading these poems, I gasped, cried, puked, and even laughed, overwhelmed by the sheer force of her searing honesty and profoundly inspired by her bravery, strength, spunk, and tenderness. Wendy is living proof of something I’ve said for years, ‘People can hurt our bodies and rob us of many things, but they cannot take our spark, spirit, or souls.’
~ Lois Einhorn, Ph.D., Author of Forgiveness and Child Abuse: Would YOU Forgive?
