Atlas of Scars: Wearing the Inscription of Complex Trauma

By Sadie Montgomery

An unexpected and brutally transparent memoir revealing the struggles of complex trauma, finding the resilience to survive and heal, and becoming brave enough to bare your scars.

Lyla Bennett’s mom died when she was twelve. That loss broke Lyla’s world apart in ways she could never imagine. Her step-father remarried and Lyla spent her teen and young adult years trying to cling to a family that had disappeared as her mother took her last breath. In her mid-forties, Lyla was diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, experienced further trauma with the deaths of her brother and father, and made a shocking breakthrough during trauma therapy that made Lyla question everything she thought she knew about herself.

Atlas of Scars is Lyla’s raw and honest portrayal of survival. Her story of withstanding generational trauma, death, grief, mental illness, and abuse; yet still having the courage to love, the spirit to heal, and the strength to wear her scars as a display of beauty is fearless and inspirational.