Introduction

In 1957, when Amy Turner was four years old, her father had to be talked down from a hotel ledge by a priest. The story of his attempted suicide received nationwide press coverage, and he spent months in a psychiatric facility before returning home. From then on, Amy constantly worried about him for reasons she didn't yet fully understand, triggering a pattern of hypervigilance that would plague her into adulthood.

In 2010, fifty-five years after her father’s attempted suicide, Amy—now a wife, mother, and lawyer-turned-schoolteacher—is convinced she’s dealt with all the psychological reverberations of her childhood. Then she steps into a crosswalk and is mowed down by a pickup truck—an accident that nearly kills her, and that ultimately propels her on a remarkable emotional journey. With the help of acupuncture, somatic-oriented therapies, and serendipities that might be attributed to grace, Amy first unravels the trauma of her own brush with death and then, unexpectedly, heals the childhood trauma buried far deeper.

Poignant and intimate, On the Ledge is Amy’s insightful and surprisingly humorous chronicle of coming to terms with herself and her parents as the distinct, vulnerable individuals they are. Perhaps more meaningfully, it offers proof that no matter how far along you are in life, it's never too late to find yourself.

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE

On a cold November morning in 1957, as Yale students crossed the green to their first classes, hotel employees cleaned up breakfast dishes, and three priests went out for a walk, my father, pajama-clad and barefoot, climbed out on the ledge of his hotel window and threatened to jump. Some fifty feet below, the fire truck arrived. Three firemen cranked the extension ladder to the floor below him while others tried to gauge a jump’s trajectory and positioned a circular net. Those in the growing crowd craned their necks to take in every moment of the unfolding drama. Soon, hundreds of people were staring up at him. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. In addition to counseling, Amy received somatic-oriented therapies to release the trauma stored in her body. Do you think different kinds of therapies help different kinds of people?

2. How did using humor shape Amy’s identity? How did it shape the writing in this book?

3. How did secrets affect Amy’s family?

4. Amy writes with great compassion toward her parents. Did this surprise you? What allowed her to feel compassion instead of anger?

5. At age 48, Amy changed careers, leaving the legal field to become a teacher. Did her decision inspire you?

6. Later in life, Amy sought to find the priest who talked her father off the ledge. She also sought the original records and pictures of his attempt. How did this outreach and research affect Amy? How did they affect the writing of her memoir?

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