For rural Ohio beauty queen April Kirkwood, her #MeToo moment came way before the term was coined. She lost her virginity to the middle-aged Frankie Valli at 16 after a decade pursuing a childhood fantasy to be the crooner's wife. The affair would go for decades. But Frankie Valli is just a central character in April's complex story of her struggle to break the generational cycle of abused and dependent women. Indeed the strong women in Working My Way Back to Me are filled with enormous love that offers protection but also intensifies the hurt.

Through April's eyes we experience joys and heartaches that echo across more than a half-century of old family secrets and ways and the triumphs and defeats involved in trying to break the mold.

April Kirkwood worked over twenty five years in public education and in the mental health field as a social worker teacher guidance counselor mentor for new teachers and counselor. She presently lives in Florida and Ohio and spends most of her time writing sharing her story with others helping women and is a public speaker.