They took my voice, now I can speak

They Took My Voice From Me, Now I Can Speak is a raw, unflinching memoir of survival, silence, and redemption. Yvette Maria Powell shares her journey from childhood trauma and teenage motherhood at sixteen, through the darkness of domestic violence, addiction-adjacent survival, and years of being controlled and unheard to finally reclaiming her identity, her faith, and her voice.Told in five powerful parts, from the shattering loss of innocence, to a desperate season of survival "by any means necessary," through a hard-won turning point, an escape and physical/spiritual resurrection, and finally a new purpose as an advocate for other women and girls, this memoir doesn't flinch from hard truths: teen pregnancy, family shame, abusive relationships, life in the drug trade, a life-threatening illness, and two strokes that nearly ended her story before it could be told.But at its heart, this is not a book about pain. It is a book about rising. Powell writes with a survivor's honesty and a grandmother's warmth, offering forgiveness, to her family, her exes, and herself, as the ultimate act of freedom. Anyone who has ever felt silenced, judged, or unseen will find both a mirror and a map in these pages.