Judy Liautaud

Sunlight on My Shadow: My Secret Teen Pregnancy in the Sixties Judy Liautaud First edition

Sunlight on My Shadow is a candid telling of the damage done by harboring guilt and shame. It is a story of renewal and redemption.

In 1966 when Judy became pregnant at the age of 16, her family kept her plight a secret. She was sent from her all-girls Catholic school to hide in a home for unwed mothers, give birth, and relinquish her baby girl to adoption. The fabricated story of her kidney disease was supposed to undo the impending damage to her reputation. Judy's father instructed her to never look back.

Judy felt the grief and shame as a tangible lump within her body and fought to keep it contained within the shadows of silence. But as an adult, she felt compelled to address the loss by searching for her birth daughter and bringing her story to light. Judy experiences firsthand that: secrets keep your soul hidden in shame and stifle the clarity of your true being.

In the end, Judy sails free from the shadows of silence and experiences a deeper, more compassionate connection with herself and others.