Crying Wolf

Eden Boudreau, Book*hug Press (MAR 22) Softcover $22 (300pp) 978-1-77166-808-8, AUTOBIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR

In her searing memoir Crying Wolf, Eden Boudreau enacts a reclamation of herself and her strength after a debilitating rape.

Boudreau, the married mother of three boys, is a bisexual, sex-positive woman engaged in a “kink-forward lifestyle.” After reckoning with her husband’s infidelities, she agreed to a polyamorous relationship that improved her marriage. However, on a first date with a man whom she met via a dating application, she was brutally raped.

Although Boudreau reported the rape to a local hospital, she was reluctant to go to the police or tell her family and friends about the assault. She expected to be judged for her appearance and unconventional lifestyle. Nevertheless, she began sessions with a therapist and met with a detective to explore the possibility of justice. When she was told that only 4% of rapists are convicted at trial, she edged further toward despair, drinking and using drugs.

The book’s chapters are taut with dread. Boudreau shares her childhood memories and exposes episodes of anxiety and neglect that rendered her eager to please others. Her mother was depressed and often adrift in her bed; she hid her sister’s cigarettes in her Easy-bake Oven so she wouldn’t get in trouble and later covered for her more serious addictions.

Boudreau’s early passion for writing and reading turned out to be key to her recovery. On the advice of her therapist, she took up her pen and joined a writing retreat with a literary idol. In the end, she weighed the potential shame of going public with a trial against taking charge of her own story and how it would be told. Crying Wolf is the result of that choice: a battle cry for women who have survived assault.