Oft Made to Wonder: Memoir of a Child

Oft Made to Wonder is a powerful memoir of childhood, resilience, and survival set in rural America in the 1970s.

As the eighth of ten children, Jia Apple grew up in a home shaped by extremes-devotion and fear, tenderness and violence, faith and confusion. Her mother's schizophrenia brought moments of mystery and unpredictability, while her father's anger created an atmosphere where safety was never guaranteed.

Told through the honest and perceptive voice of a child, this memoir invites readers into the lived experience of growing up in a dysfunctional family system-where love and harm are often intertwined, and where understanding comes slowly, if at all.

For anyone who has:

• grown up with a mentally ill parent
• experienced childhood trauma or domestic violence
• struggled to make sense of family, faith, or belonging
• or is on a path of healing and inner child work

this story offers something deeply recognizable.

At its heart, Oft Made to Wonder is not only about what happened-it is about how a child learns to endure, to interpret the world around her, and to hold onto something steady in the midst of instability.

It is a story of resilience without pretense, faith without easy answers, and love that persists even in the most complicated places.

And it leaves the reader with a quiet but powerful truth: Even in the darkest environments, something within us can remain intact.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Awaken Village Press
Published: 06/26/2026
ISBN: 9781957408330
Pages: 280
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.75d