Overview

Wide Open is D. M. Ditson's dizzying account of unravelling in the wake of a series of sexual assaults that left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. When her past threatens to derail a promising new relationship, Ditson flings herself into her recovery and documents her healing in near real time. Written in the depths of her illness, Ditson shows what PTSD looks like from the inside as she loses herself in time - mistaking the past for the present, the innocuous for danger, and her beloved for a villain. With startling candour, Ditson probes her past to understand how she became so vulnerable to assault, navigates through her trauma, and recounts her excruciating recovery as her body thrashes beyond her control. Transforming from someone who once burned and buried every one of her secrets, Ditson shares all to offer hope, to prove that healing is possible and to show that love is bigger. Wide Open is the recovery memoir Ditson sought and couldn't find when she felt crazy and alone, and yearned for someone who had made it out the other end to reach back into the darkness and share the path to freedom. It's the story of one woman's hard-fought liberation, and countless others have found solace in Ditson's words. ""This incredibly brave and powerful memoir is written in prose both luminous and stark. I read it in one gulp, in awe of the author's willingness to surrender to her experience of trauma and of her generosity in sharing her journey with readers. Wide Open will take you to the farthest reaches of what it means to be human."" - Alison Pick, Man Booker nominated author of Far To Go and Strangers With The Same Dream

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9781777719920

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Reviews

""This incredibly brave and powerful memoir is written in prose both luminous and stark. I read it in one gulp, in awe of the author's willingness to surrender to her experience of trauma and of her generosity in sharing her journey with her readers. Wide Open will take you to the farthest reaches of what it means to be human."" - Alison Pick, author of the memoir Between Gods and the novels Strangers With The Same Dream, Far To Go and The Sweet Edge ""D. M. Ditson's book is a courageous and powerful exploration of the insidiousness of sexual assault and rape. Approximately 460,000 girls and women are sexually assaulted in Canada every year. This book is an important glimpse into the world of one survivor of sexual assault. It has the potential to help us support survivors and reduce sexual violence."" - Pamela Cross, feminist lawyer and co-chair of the Ontario Violence Against Women Roundtable ""In light of the worldwide #metoo movement as well as growing efforts to address post-traumatic stress disorder and its effects on people, D. M. Ditson's Wide Open is a timely, important and necessary read."" - Dr. Vianne Timmons, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Regina ""The narrator of this gripping memoir is on a journey to self-understanding. Why does she pick men who mistreat her? Why does she sometimes attack the men she loves? Why are her attitudes towards sex so confusing even to herself? She-and the reader-need to understand. Delving into her past, she examines the legacy of her family's fundamentalism and comes to recognize the ways in which her early experiences may have compromised her judgement, blighted her sense of boundaries, and coloured her responses to a horrific sexual assault suffered in young adulthood...In the last few years, Canadians have finally begun to acknowledge the pervasiveness of rape culture, but seldom has this problem been addressed from the point of view of someone who was raised as a conservative Christian. Written in vivid scenes, rich in dialogue and drama, and unfailingly honest, Wide Open tackles a significant subject in a voice that has rarely been heard."" - Susan Olding, one of two jurors for the 2017 John V. Hicks prize awarded to Wide Open ""Wide Open is harrowing, and the year's must-read memoir... D.M. Ditson is a rape survivor who suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her attack. After years of therapy and treatment she's doing well, but her experiences remain harrowing. In Wide Open she's recorded them as she remembers them, directly and without artifice, in an unforgettable page-turner of a memoir. It's an important and, yes, brave story that could help a lot of other sexual assault survivors."" - Stephen Whitworth, Prairie Dog Magazine

This incredibly brave and powerful memoir is written in prose both luminous and stark. I read it in one gulp, in awe of the author's willingness to surrender to her experience of trauma and of her generosity in sharing her journey with her readers. Wide Open will take you to the farthest reaches of what it means to be human. - Alison Pick, author of the memoir Between Gods and the novels Strangers With The Same Dream, Far To Go and The Sweet Edge D. M. Ditson's book is a courageous and powerful exploration of the insidiousness of sexual assault and rape. Approximately 460,000 girls and women are sexually assaulted in Canada every year. This book is an important glimpse into the world of one survivor of sexual assault. It has the potential to help us support survivors and reduce sexual violence. - Pamela Cross, feminist lawyer and co-chair of the Ontario Violence Against Women Roundtable In light of the worldwide #metoo movement as well as growing efforts to address post-traumatic stress disorder and its effects on people, D. M. Ditson's Wide Open is a timely, important and necessary read. - Dr. Vianne Timmons, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Regina The narrator of this gripping memoir is on a journey to self-understanding. Why does she pick men who mistreat her? Why does she sometimes attack the men she loves? Why are her attitudes towards sex so confusing even to herself? She-and the reader-need to understand. Delving into her past, she examines the legacy of her family's fundamentalism and comes to recognize the ways in which her early experiences may have compromised her judgement, blighted her sense of boundaries, and coloured her responses to a horrific sexual assault suffered in young adulthood...In the last few years, Canadians have finally begun to acknowledge the pervasiveness of rape culture, but seldom has this problem been addressed from the point of view of someone who was raised as a conservative Christian. Written in vivid scenes, rich in dialogue and drama, and unfailingly honest, Wide Open tackles a significant subject in a voice that has rarely been heard. - Susan Olding, one of two jurors for the 2017 John V. Hicks prize awarded to Wide Open Wide Open is harrowing, and the year's must-read memoir... D.M. Ditson is a rape survivor who suffered severe post-traumatic stress disorder caused by her attack. After years of therapy and treatment she's doing well, but her experiences remain harrowing. In Wide Open she's recorded them as she remembers them, directly and without artifice, in an unforgettable page-turner of a memoir. It's an important and, yes, brave story that could help a lot of other sexual assault survivors. - Stephen Whitworth, Prairie Dog Magazine

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