Painted Smiles A Memoir Behind every painted smile, there is a story. Behind Melinda's was a life she almost didn't survive. At nine, she was being abused by an uncle no-one suspected. At twelve, she watched the Ash Wednesday firestorm reduce her family home to ash. By her teens, she was burying it all under alcohol, drugs, and the wrong men. By twenty-eight, she had crawled her way to sobriety... only to fall in love with the man she believed would finally save her. She was wrong about that too. What Melinda discovered about her fiancé would send her to the edge of taking her own life. What she found on the other side would give her back a life she never dared to imagine. Raw, unflinching, and quietly hopeful, Painted Smiles is the true story of one Australian woman's journey through childhood abuse, addiction, betrayal, and the moment everything cracked open. Along the way she learns that forgiveness is not the same as excusing, that recovery is anything but a straight line, and that the bravest thing a person can ever do is refuse to give up on herself. "You've got to hang on until the miracle happens." For anyone who has ever wondered whether their own miracle might still be waiting, this is your reminder that it just might be. Reader note: Contains accounts of childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, addiction, and suicidal ideation.