Amy Griffin

An extraordinary memoir by an author who ran literally from the dirt roads where she grew up in Texas to the streets of New York City in search of perfection as a wife, as a mother, as a highly successful business woman. But what she did not realize was that she was running from something that she had buried many years ago… I was just floored when I read Amy’s story.

Transformative and illuminating. Through every agonizing revelation, Amy Griffin refuses to pave over her pain, opting instead to embrace the entirety of it. This is a powerful story of what can happen self-compassion replaces fear as the governing force of one’s life.

Chanel Miller, Bestselling author of Know My Name

The Tell is raw, brave and deeply freeing…Amy, your courage is a light for so many. I’m so proud to stand beside you as you share this masterpiece with the world.

Hope, heart and honesty… another amazing woman sharing her story.

The Tell is the most powerful memoir I’ve read in years. It’s the rare story that will liberate you from shame, empower you to stop cycles of abuse, and make it safer for you to tell the truth.

Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Potential

Our minds may repress, but our bodies keep the score. The Tell by Amy Griffin is an honest book that will help us trust that wisdom. There is no better guide than Griffin, whose story proves it is what we do with our experience that matters.

Those of us lucky to know Amy Griffin know she's a lovely person in every way. Her courageous, generous memoir is both a reckoning with a terrible, all-too-common experience... and a searching and empathetic inquiry into the meanings of goodness, self-blame, and forgiveness.

Hanya Yanagihara [on Instagram], bestselling author of A Little Life

An extraordinary memoir paced like an expertly plotted thriller . . . I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Jessica Knoll , New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women

I started The Tell while sitting in my car . . . and literally spent the morning in the parking lot because I couldn’t stop reading. Your own heart will break, and mend, as you read.

Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet and Quiet, and host of the Quiet Life community

With this powerful little book, she joins the ranks of women who, like the brilliant Gisèle Pelicot in France, are shaking off the stigma of abuse and reattaching it to the perpetrators.

Overflowing with heart and determination, The Tell is the story of the day-by-day, step-by-step, hard-won push through harrowing emotional terrain. Griffin shines a path forward through the dark.

An important, wholly believable account of how long-buried but profoundly formative experiences finally emerge.

The Tell is a beautiful account of the journey of courage it takes to face the truth of one’s past, and the beneficial role that a combination of skillful therapy and psychedelics can play in putting one’s life in order.

Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

Amy Griffin has done something remarkable: She’s turned life-shattering trauma into a life-giving gift. The Tell is the most powerful memoir I’ve read in years. It’s the rare story that will liberate you from shame, empower you to stop cycles of abuse, and make it safer for you to tell the truth. It broke my heart and still left me filled with hope.

Overflowing with heart and determination, The Tell is the story of a journey—the day-by-day, step-by-step, hard-won push through harrowing emotional terrain. Here is someone moving steadily toward freedom and spreading so much light along the way. In finding the words to tell her story, in showing what it is to trust herself, Amy Griffin shines a path forward through the dark.

An extraordinary memoir paced like an expertly plotted thriller, each page unravelling the mystery of who Amy is and what happened to her. The moment the truth is revealed stopped my breath in my throat. Amy's story enraged me, shocked me, broke my heart and put it back together again—I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Bright Young Women

'What beautiful writing, crafting, and pacing. And what a heart Amy Griffin has. Your own heart will break, and mend, as you read' Susan Cain, #1 New York Times bestselling author 
 
'With this powerful little book, she joins the ranks of women who, like the brilliant Gisèle Pelicot in France, are shaking off the stigma of abuse and reattaching it to the perpetrators' The Times 
 
‘For such a long time, people discussed my running. It took up so much space in my life. And yet nobody ever thought to ask: What are you running from?’ 
 
For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something – a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from something terrible in her past. 
 
When her ten-year-old daughter confronts her on the distance between them, Amy is propelled to confront what she has spent a lifetime trying to escape. So begins Amy’s journey through the world of MDMA-assisted psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to Texas, where her story began. 
 
In her relentless search for the truth, Griffin scrutinises the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women. She asks the question: When, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? And what kind of freedom is possible if we better protect girls from being taken advantage of on this journey. Heartbreaking, powerful and raw, The Tell points a way forward for all of us, shedding light on the courage and power of truth-telling that’s required to move through trauma.

Amy Griffin

Praise for The Tell

An extraordinary memoir by an author who ran literally from the dirt roads where she grew up in Texas to the streets of New York City in search of perfection as a wife, as a mother, as a highly successful business w ...

Transformative and illuminating. Through every agonizing revelation, Amy Griffin refuses to pave over her pain, opting instead to embrace the entirety of it. This is a powerful story of what can happen self-compassi ...

The Tell is raw, brave and deeply freeing…Amy, your courage is a light for so many. I’m so proud to stand beside you as you share this masterpiece with the world.

An extraordinary memoir by an author who ran literally from the dirt roads where she grew up in Texas to the streets of New York City in search of perfection as a wife, as a mother, as a highly successful business w ...

Transformative and illuminating. Through every agonizing revelation, Amy Griffin refuses to pave over her pain, opting instead to embrace the entirety of it. This is a powerful story of what can happen self-compassi ...

The Tell is raw, brave and deeply freeing…Amy, your courage is a light for so many. I’m so proud to stand beside you as you share this masterpiece with the world.

An extraordinary memoir by an author who ran literally from the dirt roads where she grew up in Texas to the streets of New York City in search of perfection as a wife, as a mother, as a highly successful business w ...

Transformative and illuminating. Through every agonizing revelation, Amy Griffin refuses to pave over her pain, opting instead to embrace the entirety of it. This is a powerful story of what can happen self-compassi ...

The Tell is raw, brave and deeply freeing…Amy, your courage is a light for so many. I’m so proud to stand beside you as you share this masterpiece with the world.

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter