Borderline Shine: A Memoir

The true story of complex trauma that began with a mother's murder, and the painful and joyous journey to recovery.

When Connie Greshner was eight years old, her father walked into a bar in Ponoka, Alberta, and shot her mother. So begins a young life defined by trauma. From Catholic boarding school in Kansas, to the streets of the lower East Side in Vancouver, Connie travelled in pursuit of acceptance and belonging. Grief, confusion and shame manifested into depression, addiction and promiscuity, and Connie became as borderline as her father. Her forays into the mental health system were unhelpful, but, after several suicide attempts, unlikely heroes supported her determination to overcome. Eventually, she became a mental health therapist.

In Borderline Shine, Connie breaks the silence and shame of intergenerational violence with honesty and humour. This is an unflinching story of a survivor of domestic abuse and murder, who finds her home, her purpose, and her peace.