title: Hope: New Choices and Recovery Strategies for Adult Children of Alcoholics
author:  Emily Marlin 
description: As family therapist Marlin indicates, although most adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) do not identify their background as a source of trouble, the majority of their problems stem from having grown up in alcoholic households. Marlin's strategies for recovery involve breaking through denial; exploring the tasks involved in recovery, e.g., forgiveness; and rebuilding parent and sibling relationships in order to intervene in the family member's alcoholism. This comprehensive look at growing up in a dysfunctional family emphasizes that survival is not enough. Interesting and readable; an excellent self-help or source book. Barbara J. Powell, Veterans Administration Medical Ctr., Kansas City, Mo.<br />Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  [Cover](text/cover.xhtml)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![cover image](../media/epub-to-image.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #
  
  
  Two women who have been friends since they were children—one a recovering
  alcoholic brought up by parents who believe they’re alien abductees, the other
  an orphan with an eating disorder—contend with a secret that might doom their
  friendship.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  So here’s the thing. You’re scared shitless, because you know something
  heavy’s going down tonight, and you may be the only one who can stop it, but
  that will be dangerous in ways you can’t stand to think about. Your friend
  Vanessa—your best and oldest friend—is all about patterns, and today’s a
  doozy. It’s her twenty-eighth birthday, and also the tenth anniversary of her
  parents’ disappearence, and also her first anniversary of sobriety or anyway
  of not drinking, and also—not at all coincidentally—the day when, at midnight,
  her parole will end.
  
  
  Vanessa plans to drink again n