“[non]disclosure” explores child abuse in the church and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s

A secret is a life sentence, a permanent gag order more effective than duct tape across the mouth.

A young girl is abused by her Catholic priest. For years she tells no one, striving to meet her parents and teachers’ expectations that she be a Good Girl—passive, obedient, and devout.

When she learns as an adult that she was not his only victim—there were dozens more—the ensuing criminal trial threatens to overwhelm her. Disassembled by the abuse, she finds community working in an underground hospice for men dying from the still-taboo HIV-AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. In their midst, she recognizes the damage wrought by shame and silence, but she also finds incredible courage and love.

This novel is timely given the recent revelations of the sexual abuse of female children by Abbe Pierre and gives readers a fictional look at the extremely difficult task of speaking up about sexual abuse.

Set against the backdrop of the 1980s, the story unfolds during a time when police visited schools to present the concept of “Stranger Danger.” However, the protagonist, a young girl, painfully learns that the real threat often comes from those we trust. She endures repeated sexual assaults by a trusted priest in her church, and her silence is maintained by fear and uncertainty.

As the novel progresses, we witness her struggles through adolescence, where denial and avoidance consume her. In her twenties, she forms a friendship with her older boss, Neil, whose life is similarly marked by silence due to the stigmatized illness of AIDS. The pivotal moment arrives when a news headline exposes the priest’s criminal actions, compelling her to confront her trauma and try to seek justice. Can she find her voice after years of suppression?

A profound story of finding your voice and healing what feels irrevocably broken.