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Family is a loaded word. Who defines it? Certainly, it is the beginning for all of us.

The good and bad experiences, the values and prejudices, the traumas and secrets - often hidden or unclear - embed themselves within us. Can unseen damages influence our behavior and ability to love?

Leaving the judgment and cruelty of her mother behind her, Ellen, a recently divorced young woman, launches her new beginning in Nashville as an elementary school librarian. It is the warmth and spontaneity of Pauli, a latch-key child, who opens a whole new world for Ellen. As she forms a deep friendship with Laura, Pauli's mother, Ellen becomes part of a close-knit group of friends who feel more like family to Ellen than any she has ever known. Pauli is a hoot, making the reader laugh out loud and want to join in their Friday night line dance. Ida, almost a surrogate mother, Whitt, a handsome, tender musician, and his son Mickey, who is Pauli's best friend, develop bonds of love and loyalty. These bonds are strongly tested when a hard fought battle with cancer is waged, and a new family is born from sorrow with hope for new beginnings.

Just as Ellen adjusts her life's direction toward professional counseling, she is thrown into the dark secrets embedded in her own family - secrets that have emotionally damaged her favorite younger cousin, Charlotte. How those damages impact Ellen's new family and how they might be resolved are now the challenges that Ellen must face. This compelling unraveling of the heart and spirit reveals the vulnerability of childhood and the strength that is needed to honestly challenge what "family" truly means.

Written with evocative clarity, emotional depth and unforgettable characters, Who's Got Your Back? may very well present the sensitive reader with personal echoes from the past.