Author’s Note: Why This Book Is Free
I have chosen to make Shattered Illusions available for free.
That decision is intentional.
This book exists because my mom died.
I cannot separate that fact from anything that might come from sharing her story, and I have never felt
comfortable with the idea of putting a price on what happened to her.
I did not write this book to make money.
I wrote it because I needed to understand what happened.
At first, I was writing for myself and for my parents. I wanted to document what I was witnessing while I was
living through it. I wanted them to someday see these years through my eyes.
After my mom died, the purpose of the book changed.
I could no longer give it to her and ask her to understand my perspective.
But I could still share it.
There are families living through situations like mine right now.
There are people watching someone they love become consumed by mental illness, manipulation, scams, or
behaviors they cannot understand.
There are people who have lost someone to suicide and are still searching for an explanation they may never
find.
And there are people who have been deceived by scammers and are treated as though being manipulated
somehow makes them stupid.
I don’t want access to this story to depend on whether any of those people can afford to buy a book.
So there will be no price of admission.
Read it.
Download it.
Keep it.
If you know someone who might need it, share it with them.
All I ask is that the story be treated with respect.
These were real people.
This was my family.
Tracey Jean White was my mother.
If something in these pages helps another person recognize what may be happening in their own family, feel
less alone in their grief, understand someone they previously judged, or simply begin a difficult conversation,
then this book has accomplished more than I could ask of it.
That is enough.
—Devin White