On the Edge of Unthinkable

Twelve-year-old Paula Kyle was still mourning the death of her mother a little over a year before when, in 1974, she found herself riding down the road in a stranger's car to another stranger's house. Freshly torn from the arms of her sisters, she was now heading for a place called a foster home. Anything would have to be better than the past year with what she had endured with her stepmother, Lynn. In this memoir, Kyle narrates the story of her life before, during, and after her placement in foster care-her turbulent beginnings as an army brat, being shuttled from base to base along with her siblings; the trauma and heartache of losing her mother at the age of eleven and the horrors that followed; living in seven foster homes; and eventually becoming the confident and charismatic woman she is today. Heartrending and brutally honest, On the Edge of Unthinkable provides insight into the foster care system and affirms that it's possible to change the lives of children who have fallen through the cracks. Kyle demonstrates that it truly does take a community to raise a child.