The Reading Warehouse

One woman's riveting memoir explores hidden abuse and its lifetime repercussions.

At thirteen years old, Marcella Powell should have been focused on school, friends, and fun. Instead, she was in a juvenile detention center hundreds of miles away from her family. Labeled as a "bad kid," Marcella learned to hide her pain.

In this searing memoir, Powell digs deep into her early childhood experiences, uncovering how her trauma as a young girl set the stage for her adolescent incarceration, and exploitative relationships. She courageously pulls back the curtain on her true story of a childhood of hardship and pain, revealing tragic family secrets, the challenges of an underprivileged childhood, and the abuse that happens when no one is paying attention.

Beyond the Smile is a raw and honest book about the consequences of childhood trauma. It is the story of a young girl's hidden pain and a reminder that the ripple effects of abuse can last a lifetime if it goes ignored .