Should she take the leap through the window into the unknown? Seventeen-year-old Kyrie had no idea if she could survive it, but the notion of staying was much less appealing than the risks of the streets. A bullet that finds a fleeing target in the night, a baby held out of a high-rise window, and squatting in a rodent-infested apartment are just some of the experiences within Kyrie’s family dynamic perpetrated by her father’s actions and enabled by her mother’s acquiescence. Gifts in Brown Paper Packages (Gifts) is a coming-of-age story commencing the night New York City teenager Kyrie Graves impulsively flees the verbal and physical abuse prevalent in her childhood home to tackle life and adulthood with no plan except survival. The night that Kyrie decides to exit her bedroom window one final time changes the course of her life. Gifts is a story of a young girl’s survival driven by strength, personal growth, a journey to self-awareness, and ultimately acknowledging her truth. Through Kyrie’s lens, the reader is led through vivid episodic flashbacks from her adolescence through young adulthood in a journey ripe with experiences that are sometimes funny, often shocking and painful, and always genuine. Acceptance of her story and how it shapes her enables Kyrie to embrace the lessons, i.e., gifts, that strife and challenges offer despite their unpalatable aspects. Kyrie reveals her struggles, fears, and growth through this tale while displaying the perseverance that births her power and voice. Ultimately, Kyrie recognizes and accepts all the gifts, even the ones that come wrapped in brown paper packages!
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