Massachusetts author hopes memoir inspires others impacted by poverty and addiction
DUXBURY – A Massachusetts author is sharing the story of her childhood growing up in a poor and violent neighborhood in Worcester. She hopes that by sharing her family's history, others will find their way the way she did.
Mal Wrenn Corbin now lives in Duxbury. She told WBZ-TV that for years she brushed all she went through under the rug.
"I spent a lot of energy trying to blend in," Wrenn Corbin said.
Now a Duxbury resident, Wrenn Corbin said her life wasn't once as idyllic as it is now. She grew up in a household afflicted by poverty and addiction.
"Throughout my life people have always said wow, you really should write a book," she said.
Today, she's done just that. In her debut book, "Raising Wrenns: A Memoir," Wrenn Corbin paints a history of Worcester in the 80s and 90s. She tells the story of a cycle of violence she somehow managed to escape.
"At that time in this particular neighborhood, Worcester was really plagued by poverty, homelessness, addiction issues, and violence," she said.
She said her family was plagued by those same issues. By the time she was 15, Wrenn Corbin lived in 15 different places throughout the Main South neighborhood. She eventually lost her father to a shooting and her brother to suicide.
"I know a lot of people not just in Worcester, not just in Massachusetts, but everywhere face a lot of those similar challenges," Wrenn Corbin said. "Even though there are a lot of challenges there in Worcester, there a lot of amazing people and resources."
Wrenn Corbin leaned in on those resources, furthering her education and making her way to Dartmouth College to become a first-generation college graduate. Now a mother, wife and businesswoman, she turned her life around.
Her remarkable journey parallels the lives of actual wrens, a bird that has to fight for its place in the world.
"The wren is also really scrappy and feisty and I see a lot of that in the Wrenn family too," the author said.
The book six years in the making wasn't easy to write. Wrenn Corbin says looking back on some of those difficult days was hard but she hopes by revisiting those memories and sharing them with others she can help people struggling in similar situations.
"It's a bit of a tough story but I hope a lot of people will find it to be inspirational," she said.
To learn more, visit MalWrennCorbin.com. SDP Publishing Solutions, LLC released Raising Wrenns: A Memoir in both paperback and Kindle versions. The book is available through SDP Publishing, Amazon and other major retailers.