Some childhoods leave bruises you can see. Hers left the kind you carry for a lifetime.

In The Longshoreman’s Daughter, author Shirley Enebrad offers a deeply intimate and unflinching memoir of growing up in a household defined by fear, chaos, and emotional unpredictability. As a young girl, she learned far too early how to stay small, stay quiet, and stay out of the way—skills no child should ever need.

But she also learned how to survive.

Through moments of unexpected kindness, friendships that became lifelines, and an inner strength she didn’t yet know she possessed, Shirley found a way to navigate the violence and instability surrounding her. Each chapter pulls readers deeper into the reality of a child forced to grow up too soon—yet determined never to repeat the generational damage she witnessed.

This is more than a story of trauma; it is a story of resilience, reclamation, and the fierce hope that healing is possible.