Carmen Kissel-Verrier had never left Canada before she agreed to fly to Bolivia with an opportunity to work as an international exotic dancer.

“When you’re nineteen, there’s a lot you don’t know,” she says. “But to me, fresh off the farm, Santa Cruz sounded like an oceanfront paradise. I didn’t realize until after I signed the contract that Santa Cruz is completely landlocked and poverty-ridden.”

In her meaty coming-of-age memoir, The Butcher Shop Girl (Friesen Press, November 2020), Kissel-Verrier writes with vivid detail about her experiences as an elite world-traveling entertainer, partying with the Hells Angels, falling in love with a sexy U.S. drug enforcement agent, run-ins with premium organized crime, and safely finding her way home again.

Kissel-Verrier’s story starts in rural Alberta, Canada, where she spent her childhood working in her mother’s slaughterhouse, tearing through flesh and getting into trouble. To escape a violent home, she bounced from house to house, working on the family farm, and eventually in the oil patch.

A compelling memoir of resilience and persistence, The Butcher Shop Girl captures the vivacious spirit of a small-town girl determined to succeed by any means necessary.

ABOUT CARMEN KISSEL-VERRIER

Born in rural Alberta, Canada, Carmen Kissel-Verrier is now a technical writer and a graduate of Mount Royal University. She is the principal owner of a boutique branding agency. She has worked on many successful branding projects for sports teams, NFPs, and businesses, and was recently nominated by her local business community peers for the Women of Influence 2020 Award.

She lives with her husband and their two children on the shoreline of Moose Lake, Alberta, and remains fascinated by the diversity of the human spirit. She still loves a wild time spent with peculiar people and appreciates a good ribeye steak.

Learn more about Carmen at TheButcherShopGirl.com.