Goodbye Norman Rockwell

By: Shana Dines

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

How can teenagers be married successfully when they have been raised in madness and dysfunction? Unfortunately Melissa and Jack tried to have a normal family without a clue how to achieve it. Both coming from addiction and abuse, they carried on the family tradition. They brought three children into the union, without the skills to parent or to have a healthy marriage. Melissa, out of desperation, turned to support through counseling and 12-step programs, disrupting the fragile mobile of their family. When one person changes, the other one will change too, or leave the relationship. Melissa will be forced to deal with estrangement, abandonment and divorce. Will Melissa find joy and happiness with someone who loves her in a healthy way? What will happen to her relationships with her unhealthy family after turning her life over to God? What happens to relationships when one person decides to change the family dynamics and reach out for recovery?

Gripping and raw

Goodbye Norman Rockwell insightfully tells the story of the cycle of addiction, a loveless marriage, amd trying to break free from the inherited trauma of alcoholism. It's raw and intimate, and longing, but also glimmers of hope as she seeks the courage to change. Dines doesn’t sugarcoat the fallout—her own shame, and the slow rebuild. The authenticity of the emotional journey gives the story power. Overall, wrenching but in the end the possibility of choosing a different legacy was worth the read!