Etched in Sand
by Regina Calcaterra

This is the true story of the life of Regina Calcaterra and her four siblings.  It's a story that details the horrific abuse and torture that all five children endured their whole childhood by their mother.  Each child had a different father, and there was no contact with any of them. Their mother, Cookie, would abuse and torture the children because she hated their fathers.  Cookie was mentally ill, an alcoholic, and drug addict.  It's also the story of how the welfare and foster care systems failed to provide  and protect the children from their mother.

This is also the story of  Regina's determination to keep her siblings together. She did her best to try and provide the basic needs for her sisters and brother at any cost.  She always insisted that they all attend school as she believed that was the only way they would be able to have a better life for themselves as adults.  Along with the love that they had for one another and their survival instincts they were able to survive and achieve their goals.

Regina's sisters and brother eventually married and have families of their own and are doing well.  Regina put herself through law school and is a lawyer in New York and lives on Long Island.  She also ran for a Senate seat in 2010. She is a board member to You Gotta Believe, an organization that works towards finding older foster children forever homes, just to name a few of her many accomplishments.

I didn't know if I could finish this book it was hard to read the unspeakable things that the Calcaterra children had to endure.  It was heartbreaking when the children were returned to their mother time and time again. I kept going because no matter how many times Regina's mother beat her down, Regina never lost hope that she and her siblings would someday have a better life. 

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