Ann Hite
“A heartbreaking, powerful read. Survival comes with its price. Brunskill turns you inside out, but the journey is well worth any discomfort you experience. The Killing Closet is beautifully written and resonated with me long after I finished.”
— Ann Hite award-winning author of Roll The Stone Away: A Family’s Legacy of Racism and Abuse
Brian Panowich
“I’m astounded by the bravery it took to tell this story. The Killing Closet is not for the faint of heart. But heart is the key word. This memoir is terrifying to read as Brunskill lays out still-fresh brutality, but at the same time, balances the darkness with a clear and defined sense of redemption. To find understanding, and even hope, inside a landscape filled with monsters is no easy feat. But it’s worth the read to understand the heart of a survivor. This book will make you want to hold the hand of someone you love and never let go.”
— Brian Panowich, International Best-Selling Author of Bull Mountain and Nothing But The Bones
Karen Salyer McElmurray
“The Killing Closet is at once a hard-hitting exploration of a childhood lost to violence and a keen-edged narrative about the dual nature of loving and hating. What hurts us, V.L. Brunskill writes, is embedded in the cerebrum, burned into the very nerve endings of ourselves. How we embrace that hurt is at the heart of who we become and how we find the courage to take charge of our lives.”
— Karen Salyer McElmurray, author of Voice Lessons, Wanting Radiance, Surrendered Child
Jackie K Cooper
“A soul searing story of abuse that pits survival versus untethered evil.”
— Jackie K Cooper, author of The Wisdom of Winter, Memory’s Mist, Journey of a Gentle Southern Man
“V.L. Brunskill’s new book, The Killing Closet, is without a doubt one of the more riveting (and oft chilling) accounts I’ve ever read. Time after time, I found myself asking how Brunskill and her family lived through what she describes, and, at the same time, admiring her strength. At others, I found myself in tears, or angered on her behalf, and horrified by her and her family’s experiences. Finally, came my admiration for her nuanced handling of what, ultimately, is delicate subject matter indeed, and I’m sure that, like me, none of her readers will be able to put this breath-taking book down before it’s end.”
— Rosemary Daniell, award-winning author of Fatal Flowers: On Sin, Sex and Suicide in the Deep South and nine other books of poetry and prose
V.L. Brunskill 