What does it mean to not know who you are? To grow up with missing links in your memories, like scattered puzzle pieces that don't fit in the remaining spaces of the greater picture? To look back at the gaps in between your life events and wonder what's missing?

Growing up, Cindy Benezra was no stranger to having gaps in her memories, to the way each night would evolve into all-out nightmares that plagued her every moment asleep. Her history felt as though it was rewriting itself every time she closed her eyes, and she came to a deep realization that something was just not right. Like a mysterious weight on her chest, the challenges of her uncertain history dragged down her everyday actions until she could no longer bear to keep herself in the dark.

But she knew she could not heal until she confronted the past head on.

She needed truth. She needed answers. She needed to heal. And to heal, she needed to go to the darkness of her childhood and learn her whole story.

As a young girl, Cindy endured years of abuse at the hands of her father. From the outside, their family seems to have it all together. Their middle-class, respectable family image hid the dark secrets of Cindy's childhood. As the truth surfaced, her mother scrambled to deal with the abuse within the confinements of the 1970's mindset of women and abuse. As an adult, Cindy seeks freedom from her past while also dealing with her mother's death, divorce, and her son's ongoing health crises. Despite her father's unthinkable violation, Cindy cared for him as an old man facing his mortality. In his final years, she interviewed her dad, chasing his guilty confession before it's too late.

Share in Cindy's story of resilience in the face of her trauma as she recounts her struggle to fit together the puzzle pieces of her life in this authentic and brave recollection of her quest for answers, and the road to healing she set herself on. Discover what it means to find light even in the darkest of trials and how to find courage to do the difficult tasks even when every fiber of our being shouts to go back.

Told with unflinching optimism and heart, Under the Orange Blossoms will fill you with a greater appreciation of the resiliency of one woman in this inspiring, gut-wrenching memoir, which offers a blend of self-help practical tools for healing from trauma, and Cindy's life story.

In a world where abuse is often silenced, Cindy confronts her paralyzing fears head on and speaks to the most sensitive points of the abuse she suffered. Her story offers hope that healing is attainable no matter how insurmountable the obstacle may seem.