Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

The Life She Once Knew

The Incredible True Story of Queena, The Bloomingdale Library Attack Survivor

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

In 1981, a young woman faced death as she lay on the floor of a small boat in the South China Sea fleeing the life she once knew in Vietnam.

In 2008, her teenage daughter lay fighting for her life after being brutally raped and abandoned while returning books at a library near Tampa, Florida.

The attack in front of the Bloomingdale library left Queena with a traumatic brain injury, sentenced to a life unable to walk, see, or speak. As Vanna Nguyen lovingly poured herself into caring for her now severely disabled daughter, she also battled with reliving her own Vietnam War survival story. And she must decide, can she forgive the attacker whose unforgivable decision changed both their lives as they knew them forever?

In The Life She Once Knew, Vanna candidly chronicles the deeply spiritual and emotionally powerful journeys of these two strong women as they fight for their lives and their futures decades apart.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2020

      Eighteen-year-old Queena Phu was raped and beaten at the public library in Bloomingdale, FL, in 2018. This memoir by Queena's mother highlights how violence impacted their family and community for years. Nguyen recounts events before, during, and after her daughter's ordeal with pathos, sparing no grim details. Middle chapters intersperse Nguyen's narrative of emigrating from Vietnam during the period following the Communist capture of Saigon with Queena's struggles to achieve developmental milestones in her recovery. These sections are the most successful in highlighting how Nguyen's willingness to endure hardship to improve her daughters' quality of life was once again activated by the attack at the library. Nguyen makes explicit the range of issues survivors of violence face, including struggles with the U.S. health care system, sentencing requirements for her daughter's attacker within the justice system, and victim's rights advocacy. Nguyen's Christian faith is a theme throughout. At times, the text is repetitive, and some direct quotations in later chapters are overly long. VERDICT Recommended to those seeking personal accounts of survivors of sexual violence, and those who have followed Queena's story.--Allison Gallaspy, Tulane Univ., LA

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

Languages

  • English

Loading