Such a Pretty Picture
A Memoir
by Andrea Leeb
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Pub Date Oct 14 2025 | Archive Date Not set
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Description
Andrea is four and a half the first time her father, David, gives her a bath. Although she is young, she knows there is something strange about the way he is touching her. When her mother, Marlene, walks in to check on them, she howls and crumples to the floor—and when she opens her eyes, she is blind. Marlene’s hysterical blindness lasts for weeks, but her willful blindness lasts decades. The abuse continues, and Andrea spends a childhood living with a secret she can’t tell and a shame she is too afraid to name.
Despite it, she survives. She builds a life and tells herself she is fine. But at age thirty-three, an unwanted grope on a New York City subway triggers her past. Suddenly unable to remember how to forget, Andrea is forced to confront her past—and finally begin to heal.
This brave debut offers honest insight into a survivor’s journey. Readers will feel Andrea’s pain, her fear, and her shame—yet they will also feel her hope. And like Andrea, they will come to understand an important truth: though healing is complicated, it is possible to find joy and even grace in the wake of the most profound betrayals.
Advance Praise
“A moving memoir of trauma with an uplifting conclusion.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Leeb has written my favorite kind of memoir, frantically alive, unflinching, breaking my heart in the best ways. I felt her with me on every page, and by chapter three, we were best friends." — Joshua Mohr, author of MODEL CITIZEN
“Heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting story of a child’s secret and a family’s betrayal. The spectacular prose of Andrea Leeb’s memoir unfolds with stunning detail that haunts as much as it inspires.” — Elle Johnson, author of The Officer's Daughter and Executive Producer of Bosch
“Startling emotional rawness. Unflinching truth-telling. Andrea Leeb’s devastating examination of a childhood shattered by parental sexual and emotional abuse will be seared into your mind from the very first page. The immediacy of Leeb’s propulsive writing rivets your attention, but it is her bravery to not just survive but make a beautiful life that gives this story such resonance. Wrenching, unforgettable, and, ultimately, illuminating, Such a Pretty Picture carried my heart away.” — Samantha Dunn, Pulitzer Prize Nominated Journalist and author of Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life
"Andrea Leeb’s powerful memoir, Such a Pretty Picture, is an immensely compelling, tender, honest, and ultimately courageous reckoning with abuse, betrayal, and the false promises of new starts. She writes with great immediacy and clarity about the long, often seemingly-impossible, and always mysterious journey into a lifetime of unfolding healing. This is also an important story about the bravery and persistence it takes to forge a life out of the bravery of love and the miracle of forgiveness. Many who have survived incest as well as other forms of pervasive abuse will find solace, wisdom, and hope in this beautifully-written memoir.” — Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus and author of The Magic Eye: A Memoir of Saving a Life and Place in the Age of Anxiety
“Author Andrea Leeb masterfully untangles a web of family secrets with poignant prose in Such a Pretty Picture. The story delves into her complex history, revealing the emotional scars left when a family covers up secrets and lies. With exquisite writing, Andrea bravely explores the wounds that shaped her and the healing that comes from confronting her past.” — Wendy Adamson, author of Mother Load
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781647429942 |
| PRICE | $17.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 256 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Megan T, Reviewer
I don't typically reach for memoirs, but I was drawn in by the cover and the title. By the time I finished reading the synopsis, I was hooked. I ended up reading this in one day because I just couldn't put it down.
Andrea Leeb is an economical writer and seems to know just how much detail to share and what to leave unsaid. Many of the descriptions of the intensely traumatizing and painful experiences she went through felt devoid of emotion, presented with almost clinical detachment. That was initially something I saw as a flaw in the book, but I came to see it as an evocative portrayal of one of Andrea's coping mechanisms. I felt her dissociation, how she distracted herself and numbed her pain to get through life and simply survive.
Sprinkled throughout the story are moments of lighthearted fun and even joy shared with her parents, highlighting the complexity of growing up in an abusive household. Andrea also shares her hesitations around seeking help to find healing from her trauma, and some of the negative experiences she had when she did seek help. These parts of her story are so important for fellow victims/survivors to read, to maybe see their own experiences reflected in others, to know they are not alone.
The book ends on a more uplifting, hopeful note, though refrains from painting the journey toward healing with an overly sunny brush. Overall, Such a Pretty Picture is a well-written, highly readable, and strikingly balanced examination of a heavy, disturbing topic.
