I can say with more conviction than before that Gurdon purposely distorted the book's themes. It's a fiction based on her own youth and struggles dealing with the traumas inflicted by childhood rape and how those traumas are expressed and it is quite clear that Rainfield did not write the novel to glorify cutting or to revel in the horrifying partial recall of the protagonist of her years of rape. Rather, it is one of those stories that allows those who have experienced such horrible things (and they are much more common than what most suspect, as I've learned during the past three years working in treatment centers) to read of one who underwent something similar and who not only fought to survive, but ended up finding love and acceptance from those around her. It also has a wealth of resource information at the back for those who might want to read more, "truer" accounts in order to figure out how to cope and to win against such pains.

Later this week, I'm going to give my copy of Scars to the girls' therapist at work and ask her to judge how best (if at all) this book should be made available for her clients. It is something that I think might be a good read for those who might have turned to drugs in order to deal with their pasts.