Smoke and Mirrors, a chapter from Sheila Martineau’s memoir, I Wanted to Tell You This: a memoir of magic, music, and madness, untangles the challenges she endured as the ‘disobedient daughter’ of brilliant but brutal, misguided parents and the strategies she used to combat and escape.

Her father was a professional magician and commercial artist. Her mother was a gold-medal classical pianist. They were high school sweethearts who performed together on stage and married while still in their teens.

Sheila Martineau PhD is a writer, copy editor, book designer, and social researcher who collaborates with artists, architects, and publishers. Her scholarly articles and doctoral dissertation focused on issues relating to childhood trauma.

sheilamartineau.com.

Rewriting Resilience: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Childhood Resilience and the Politics of Teaching Resilience to 'Kids at Risk. (UBC, 1999)

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