Gold Cup Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Gender-Based Violence
By Lynn MacNeill
Pownal Street Press has released Gold Cup Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Gender-Based Violence by Lynn MacNeill. All are welcome to attend the book launch and signing event on June 22 from 4–7 pm at Beaconsfield Carriage House in Charlottetown.
When Lynn MacNeill first shared her story of gender-based violence, it rallied a community. The first Circle of Safety & Support process to protect victims from harm formed around Lynn. Now, she shares her extraordinary story of survival. Gold Cup Girl is the story of the heartbreak of love, loss, and grief—and a celebration of the power to overcome. Set in and around the Charlottetown Driving Park when harness racing was king, the memoir describes growing up in a horse-racing family where women’s proudest role is to wear the silks of a Gold Cup and Saucer Girl.
Through trauma in her teens that included the loss of both her parents, Lynn struggles to recreate a loving family of her own in the face of violence and heartaches. Protecting her children as she remains vigilant against threats and the predators around her, Lynn must reckon with a justice system that can’t support her enough when terrible things happen—or prevent worse things from happening. Gold Cup Girl illustrates the healing power of friendship, commitment, and trust to empower a survivor—and reveals the birth of the Circles of Safety & Support model, an approach that represents a paradigm shift in the landscape of gender-based violence.