Books about abused and emotionally disturbed children are usually clinical and professional in nature; they seldom engage a reader’s curiosity, heart and funny bone all at the same time. Nutmeg, the story of one such child and the help and solace offered her through a network of caring people, is not so much a clinical study as a beautifully told story of one bright, angry and lovable young child and her journey to well-being.
In a healing setting where John Bowlby’s attachment theory abounds, young Nutmeg learns to trust, attach to those she learns to love and to empathize with others. Her disturbed behaviors slowly and surely diminish and her tremendous love of life thrills the reader as her voyage to adoption into a “forever family” becomes a reality.
This book is filled with accessible information about the lives of children locked in the world of foster care, facing the challenges of our legal system and dealing with memories and people from a troubled and frightening past.

Jacqui Kelley-Kinnie is a retired psychologist who worked for over thirty years with children in public and private schools, and in agencies that treated severely abused children. Mother of four girls now grown with families of their own, she continues working as a Volunteer Guardian ad Litum for the 12th Judicial Court in Sarasota, FL. Jacqui lives in Sunny Sarasota with her husband, Ernest, and pets Bailey (a Coton de Tulear) and Tigger (a Norwegian Forrest Cat).

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