BookTrib’s Bites: From Trauma to Healing

(BookTrib) - “Strong Roots, Safe Wings” by Kalyani Gopal, PhD, HSPP

Parenting often begins with the best intentions — yet in moments of stress, many parents find themselves reacting in ways that feel painfully familiar from their own past. In “Strong Roots, Safe Wings,” clinical psychologist Dr. Kalyani Gopal offers a compassionate, evidence-based program designed to help parents understand and heal the deeper patterns that shape their responses to their children.

Grounded in neuroscience, attachment theory and trauma research, this illustrated workbook focuses not on fixing children’s behavior but on helping caregivers regulate their own emotional responses. Through a structured six-week program of reflections, guided exercises and practical tools, readers learn how to stay grounded during difficult moments, set healthy boundaries without shame or punishment, and repair missteps with honesty and connection.

By addressing the lingering effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), Dr. Gopal empowers parents and helping professionals to break harmful cycles — nurturing emotionally secure, resilient children who feel safe enough to grow and thrive.

Purchase at https://amzn.to/4cLPNDo.

“Evil, Goodness, and Creating Active Bystandership” by Ervin Staub

In “Evil, Goodness, and Creating Active Bystandership,” renowned psychologist Ervin Staub reflects on a life shaped by both unimaginable cruelty and extraordinary human courage. A survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary who later escaped communist rule and built an academic career in the United States, Staub has devoted his life to understanding why people harm others — and why some choose to help instead.

Blending memoir, psychology and social insight, Staub traces how his personal experiences led to groundbreaking research on the roots of violence, genocide and altruism. From studying “altruism born of suffering” to promoting reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda and helping train police officers to intervene when colleagues misuse force, his work explores how ordinary people can become agents of change.

Through powerful stories and decades of research, Staub offers a hopeful message: when individuals step forward as “active bystanders,” they can interrupt harm and help build a more compassionate world.

Purchase at https://amzn.to/4sOXZaR.

“Lost in the Holler” by Michael West

When RJ Burnette leaves behind his high-pressure finance career in New York and returns to the Tennessee mountains, he hopes to reset his life in the quiet rhythms of home. But Gizzard’s Holler has not been waiting patiently for him. Beneath its familiar routines lies a secret the town has kept for decades.

Years earlier, RJ’s sister Sue Ann died under circumstances everyone accepted as tragic misfortune. Now RJ begins to learn that the story he grew up believing may not be the whole truth. As old memories surface and long-held silences begin to crack, he finds himself confronting a past that many in the community would rather leave buried.

“Lost in the Holler” blends Southern Gothic atmosphere with a character-driven mystery, exploring family loyalty, grief and the uneasy balance between protecting those we love and facing the truth.

Purchase at https://amzn.to/40vFRqf.

“Weight Class: A Fighter's Life-or-Death Battle with an Eating Disorder” by Danny O’Connor

What if the most dangerous opponent an elite fighter faces isn’t in the ring — but on the scale?

In “Weight Class,” former Olympian and professional boxer Danny O’Connor delivers a powerful memoir exposing the hidden toll of eating disorders in weight-class sports. From high school wrestling to a world title fight on national television, O’Connor chronicles a decades-long battle with starvation, dehydration and binge cycles that nearly cost him his life.

What looked like discipline from the outside was, in reality, a silent and escalating illness. With raw honesty, he reveals how a culture that rewards extreme weight-cutting can mask serious mental health struggles — especially in men, who are often overlooked in conversations about eating disorders. More than a sports memoir, “Weight Class” is a story of survival, self-reckoning and recovery — and a necessary wake-up call for athletes, coaches and anyone who thinks they know what an eating disorder looks like.

To purchase, visit https://www.bitelikeaman.com/ or https://amzn.to/4bLOzqK.