Mary Cutts

Restoring the sense of self after trauma. When children are safe and loved, they are able to become. When children are not safe and not loved, their stress and distress are not attended to, they live in a state of high alert. They develop a coping self, hiding the injured child. This book attempts to answer the question How could the sense of self that abuse shattered, or neglect failed to establish, be restored? Drawing on her experiences as a counsellor, her study of trauma and recovery, neurobiology and child development, Mary has documented what she has learnt about the self and how it can be restored. Her own healing was done in the context of a spiritual journey. She has brought that journey together with her understanding of trauma. To illustrate what she has learnt about the Self, Mary weaves her own story through the book. It was written for those for whom conservative Christianity no longer fits, but for whom a relationship with God and a spiritual path is important. It is written for those who have experienced childhood trauma and those who support them. May it bless and encourage." This extraordinary book is written from the heart but informed by vast expertise in trauma counselling and lived experience of a complicated life of trauma. In these pages was an explanation of human life, its trauma, what we do to survive and how we can heal. I have never read a book that taught me so much about myself and had me recognise my own life and story on every page. It is written with such openness that you have no choice but to open yourself to what lies within. A voyage deep into the human heart and soul, a tapestry so intimate and intricate it draws together all the things you think you might have known but have not been able to put together. Until now." Grateful reader. "A courageous, compassionate, reflective and insightful journey of hurt and healing, underpinned by solid principles and strategies gained over many years of real-world practice. An authentic voice for self-empowerment." Tony Evers Community Mental Health Educator and Mentor.

For biographers and fans of Dolley Payne Todd Madison, Mary Cutts's memoir of her famous aunt has been indispensable. Because Madison left behind no account of her life, the common assumption has been that Cutts's account is the closest we have to Madison's autobiographical voice. With this new, annotated transcription of both drafts of the memoir, The Queen of America offers scholars and general readers the first modern and contextualized version of this crucial piece of Founding-era biography. An opening essay by the acclaimed Dolley Madison biographer Catherine Allgor presents the memoir not only as a source for information on Madison herself, but also as a prime example of a nineteenth-century woman, Mary Cutts, making a bid for historical significance. Essays by Holly Shulman, editor of The Dolley Madison Digital Edition, and Montpelier research scholar Beth Taylor evaluate the historical uses and misuses of the document for understanding Dolley's life and supply background information on Mary, the niece who fashioned Dolley Madison's life into part of the historical record. The questions raised by Cutts's memoir are intriguing: Given that most of the story takes place before Cutts's birth, whose voice are we hearing? What are we to make of the lies and omissions along the way? What family secrets is Cutts hiding, and whose are they? With Allgor as guide, we enter the fascinating world of nineteenth-century history in the making.