A memoir of healing from trauma and addiction from a well-known West Coast political figure. . . . With admirable candor, she shares a story of resilience, delving into childhood and adult traumas, including a nearly fatal car accident and difficulties involving a stalker, and tells how she worked to overcome intense feelings of ‘shame, fear, and resentment.’ Davis is an open and unwavering narrator who presents readers with explicit descriptions of sexual assault, eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse. The work touches on issues of privacy, motherhood, injustice, and mental health, including important criticisms of how addiction is criminalized and misunderstood. . . . A remembrance with a powerful message about strength and recovery. —Kirkus Reviews

In these tender, urgent letters to her sons, Nadia Davis reveals her life . . . and journey toward healing. Home Is Within You is alive with Davis’s honesty and vulnerability, threading both her pain and the hard work of recovery and healing into its pages. Her frank accounts of grief, loss, and assault are upsetting, but the memoir’s hopeful trajectory sees Davis—‘that little bright-eyed brown girl who simply wanted to save the world but sometimes hid in the closet’—building a thriving career, giving back to the community, and finding the strength to face trauma head on. —Publishers Weekly’s BookLife

“A powerful example of following our light within to break a cycle of trauma and consciously choose a life of happiness. Nadia is a true warrior spirit and champion for the fight against injustice.”

—Chris Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness, also a major motion picture

“It takes courage to tell your story, and Nadia Davis has acted with such courage and transparency in telling her story in a creative and conscientious way. We who have experienced trauma can all learn from her bravery and raw honesty.” —Casey Gwinn, Esq., president of Alliance for HOPE International

“Nadia Davis is a brilliant writer, attorney, and crusader for causes. Her book, Home Is Within You, encompasses her journey from crisis to redemption. It’s truly a compelling read.”

—Leigh Steinberg, American sports agent and author

“Methodical . . . powerful . . . Centering [on] motherhood, Home Is Within You is a delicate memoir about whole-person healing and its wider impact. The text is also powerful in addressing how Davis’s public and private lives melded—though often, the two were in conflict. It muses [on] . . . a call for a healthier balance between the two, aspiring for a world in which, rather than shaming people for their struggles, communities can learn to help individuals find healing and health, all within supportive relationships. . . . Some struggles, she finds, are rooted within our family pasts; still, Davis manages to craft her personal identity [as one] distinct from these challenges.”

—Clarion Reviews

“In these tender, urgent letters to her sons, Nadia Davis reveals her life, vulnerability, and journey toward healing. Home Is Within You is alive with Davis’s honesty and vulnerability, threading both her pain and the hard work of recovery and healing into its pages. Her frank accounts of grief, loss, and assault are upsetting, but the memoir’s hopeful trajectory sees Davis—‘that little bright-eyed brown girl who simply wanted to save the world but sometimes hid in the closet’—building a thriving career, giving back to the community, and finding the strength to face trauma head on.”

—BookLife Reviews

“Davis’s prose is a perfect combination of direct, confident, unashamed, and sometimes snarky. She has a true eye for gorgeous descriptions and poetic interludes that always enhance the narrative in a meaningful way. A hybrid memoir that combines poetry, prose, and letters to her sons, Nadia Davis’s Home Is Within You is a tour de force work of striking power about learning how to live, thrive, and survive the consequences of childhood trauma, abusive relationships, alcoholism, drug addiction, and severe mental illness.”

—BookLife Prize review

“Home Is Within You captures the strength and struggles of Nadia Lockyer, which she so bravely shares to help others.

“The courage of Ms. Lockyer to share her journey in her book is an incredible demonstration of selflessness. Ms. Lockyer has lived through challenges of addiction and recovery, and she has survived. By sharing her story, Ms. Lockyer has removed the shame and loneliness that plagued her and has plagued so many others. Her personal reflections and work are presented in her book and can give hope and success to others who find themselves in similar human conditions.”

—Nancy E. O’Malley, Alameda County district attorney, founder of Alameda County Family Justice Center