In 2013, the trajectory of Amanda Nguyen’s life was changed forever when she was raped at Harvard University.
Determined not to let her assault derail her goal of joining NASA after graduation, Nguyen opted for her rape kit to be filed under “Jane Doe.” But she was shocked to learn her choice to stay anonymous gave her only six months to press charges before the state destroyed her kit, rendering any future legal action impossible. Nguyen knew then that she had two options: surrender to a law that effectively denied her justice, or fight for a change―not only for herself but for survivors everywhere.
A heart-wrenching memoir of survival and hope, Saving Five boldly braids the story of Nguyen’s activism―which resulted in Congress’s unanimous passage of the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act in 2016―with a second, beautifully imagined adventure, of Nguyen’s younger selves as they, at the ages of five, fifteen, twenty-two, and thirty, navigate the emotional stages of her path toward healing, not only from her rape but from the violent turmoil of her childhood. The result is a groundbreaking work that seamlessly blends memoir with a moving recounting of her journey toward acceptance and hope, forging a path ahead that is as inspiring as it is instructive.