{"title":"Joy Castro","description":"Joy Castro is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the Department of English and the Institute for Ethnic Studies. She is the author of Island of Bones (Nebraska, 2012) and the novel Hell or High Water, a National Latino Book Club selection. Dorothy Allison is an award-winning poet, novelist, and essayist, and the author of Bastard out of Carolina.","products":[{"product_id":"the-truth-book-a-memoir-paperback","title":"The Truth Book: A Memoir - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAdopted as a baby and raised by a devout Jehovah's Witness family, Joy Castro is constantly reminded to tell the truth no matter what the consequences. Nevertheless, Castro finds this tenet to be the most violated. Here, in her very own \u003ci\u003eTruth Book\u003c\/i\u003e, Castro bears witness to a childhood lost but a life regained.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCastro's parents divorce after her father is excommunicated for smoking. She is twelve when her mother marries a \"brother\" in the church who, though exhibiting an impeccable public persona, is violent and controlling at home. For two years, Joy does not grow at all; in fact, she loses sixteen pounds in response to the physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse she suffers at his hands. Her battered mother does nothing to protect her, nor does her church. She is sustained by humor, books, and her protective love for her younger brother until their daring escape. This courageous personal account looks freshly at the disturbing effects of religious hypocrisy and the resilience of the human spirit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67969842184415,"sku":"9780803240629","price":21.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Y4v9r9yqpV9780803240629.webp?v=1791784361"},{"product_id":"how-winter-began-stories-paperback","title":"How Winter Began: Stories - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIréne gives the wealthy businessmen what they want, diving headfirst into the filthy river, thinking only of providing for her baby daughter, Marisa, as the men salivate over her soaked body emerging onto the bank. A young boy tries to befriend the reticent younger sister of the town's cruelest bully, only to discover the family betrayal behind her quiet countenance. Josefa, a young bride, is executed for murdering the man who raped her. Joy Castro's \u003ci\u003eHow Winter Began\u003c\/i\u003e traces these and other characters as they seek compassion from each other and themselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThematically linked by the lives of women, especially Latinas, and their experiences of poverty and violence in a white-dominated, wealth-obsessed culture, \u003ci\u003eHow Winter Began\u003c\/i\u003e is a delicately wrought collection of stories. The question at the heart of this riveting book is how or whether to trust one another after the rupture of betrayal.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":68086784721119,"sku":"9780803276604","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/WFW6oNDm1m9780803276604.webp?v=1792363902"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/joy-castro.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}