We Were a Nice Normal Family: A Memoir of Recovery from C-PTSD and the Trauma of Narcissistic Abuse

Did you grow up in a family that looked perfectly normal from the outside, and spend years wondering why nothing inside it ever felt that way? In We Were A Nice Normal Family, Dr. Patricia Grenelle, a retired Forensic Psychologist and survivor of childhood sexual abuse and C-PTSD, tells the story that so many survivors recognise immediately: the farm, the routines, the surface appearances of a functioning family, and the abuse hidden beneath all of it. With the precision of a scientist and the courage of a woman who has lived through every word of it, Dr. Grenelle traces the childhood sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and abandonment that shaped her life for decades. She honours her sister Josie, whose parallel suffering gives voice to every survivor who never had the chance to speak. And she maps the path forward, through the C-PTSD symptoms, the complicated relationships, the failed marriages, and the self-doubt, toward the understanding and healing that remain possible, no matter how many years have passed. This is not a book that softens the truth. It is a book that finally tells it. Perfect for readers of What Happened to You? and The Body Keeps the Score. Essential reading for survivors, therapists, and anyone who has ever quietly wondered whether what happened in their family was truly normal.