Facing the Jaguar: A Memoir of Courage and Confrontation

For fans of The Glass Castle and Educated, a child sex abuse survivor-turned-domestic violence advocate examines the full circle of generational trauma, resilience, and healing.

The average person can keep a secret for forty-seven hours. Babs Walters held the worst kind of secret for nearly 70 years.

Beginning at the age of 11, Babs suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father. His edict, “Children should be seen and not heard,” defined her childhood and groomed her to silence. Desperate to be loved and seeking approval, the good little girl absorbed both the responsibility and the shame that was not hers to begin with.

Despite the generational trauma and abuse that haunted her childhood, Walters made a promise to herself when she realized that “We are not what happens to us. We are the meaning and purpose we give to what happens to us.”

Now, decades later, author Babs Walters shows us how uncovering the truth is a critical step to healing. Facing the Jaguar is an inspirational story of resilience and courage—a story that proves anything is possible when we claim our truth and shine a light in even the darkest of places.