Raising Wrenns: A Memoir

Runner-up for the 2024 Indie Author Project Award in Memoir"OUR VERDICT: GET IT." — Kirkus Reviews (Recommended Review) Raising Wrenns is the story of a girl growing up in the shadow of poverty, addiction, and loss — and the quiet, fierce strength it took to believe that her life could be more than the world around her.She was scared.She was alone.She was brave.She was fierce.And she kept going.Mal Wrenn Corbin was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts — a once-thriving mill city hollowed out by factory closures, hunger, and inherited grief. In those days, people said no one ever got out. But even in the hardest moments, there were flashes of tenderness that refused to die: her brother's laughter, grasshoppers caught in the dirt behind the house, and the stubborn belief that there must be something better ahead.Blending personal narrative with the natural history and mythology of wrens — small birds known for their resilience and unlikely strength — Corbin traces her journey from survival to self-worth, from invisibility to voice. The result is a memoir that is both unflinching and deeply hopeful: a testament to the power of love, identity, and choosing to become who you were meant to be.For readers of The Glass Castle and Educated, Raising Wrenns offers a quiet, luminous reminder:We are all worthy of a beautiful life.Even — and especially — when we were told we were not. What Readers Are Saying"I felt like I was holding my breath the whole time I read it — I wanted to reach out and hug young Mal. Raw, beautiful, and triumphant.""One of the most well-written memoirs I've ever read. She is a true inspiration — proof that anyone can rise, persevere, and create a future bigger than their past.""Balances the bitter with the sweet, the tragic with the hopeful. Candid, emotional, and deeply human — a testament to resilience and the power of becoming." Read more