New! Second edition (2019) read by the author, Brenda Lee.

Out of The Cocoon, which has earned 5 stars on Amazon, is a heart-wrenching, yet inspirational tale about the author's escape from a religious cult after enduring decades of dysfunction. Take the incredible journey with her as she survives stifling oppression as a child, physical and emotional abuse as a teenager, and the ultimate tragedy: the loss of her family once she becomes an adult. See how, like a butterfly, she changes the world within her, as her external world becomes increasingly unyielding.

This audiobook is a "must listen" for anyone who has experienced abuse, alcoholism, single parenthood, serious depression, or a parent's rejection. Discover more about your own life through Brenda Lee's introspective, yet humorous flight from insanity. Learn how you, too, can emerge "Out of The Cocoon" to create a future brimming with unconditional love and lasting happiness.

In this second edition, Brenda Lee answers many questions about relatives who were profiled in her first edition, originally published in 2006.

Did she ever see her first love again? Whose untimely death surprised her most? Whose actions after death cut her deeply? Where are her mother and father now and do they speak to Brenda? Does she ever see her sister's children? What is her son, Derek, doing now that he's an adult? Who is the new love in her life? What professional successes has she had since her memoir was published? What would she do differently if she could go back in time and change things?

Brenda Lee's motto: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” (Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life).

Narration and "Metaphysics" guitar composition written and performed by Derek DeMuth.