In accordance with her Sicilian Catholic family’s unspoken code, Paolina Milana learned at an early age to keep her secrets locked away where no one could find them. Nobody outside the family needed to know about the schizophrenic voices her Mamma battled in her head, or about how Paolina forged her birth certificate at 13 so she could get a job at The Donut Shop; or about the police officer 26 years her senior whose promise to her Papà to “keep an eye on her” quickly translated into something sinister. And perhaps that’s why no one saw it coming when - on the eve of her sweet 16, pushed to edge - Paolina attempted to take her own mother’s life.  

The S Word is the raw and compelling true story of a girl coming of age raised by a mother with a mental illness, and who nearly suffocates in the silence she was taught to value above all else - until she finally finds the strength to break free of the secrets binding her and save herself. The S Word is a book for anyone who may be keeping secrets...for children too little to know they warrant a voice...for teenagers too confused to think they have a choice...for adults too overwhelmed to do what’s right. And for those of us who have survived crazy and who - blessed with a little perspective (not to mention nearly a decade of therapy) - realize we no longer need to stay silent, and that spilling secrets may just help others from feeling as if they need to keep theirs.

Winner of the National Indie Excellence Award, The S Word is a memoir about mental illness and how it impacts one young girl and her immigrant family. The sequel to The S Word is called Committed: A Memoir of Madness in The Family. 

“Emotionally powerful and so evocative of place and time, Paolina Milana’s The S-Word is hard to forget. The drama of the story stays with you long after the last page is turned.” (Samantha Dunn, author of Not by Accident)

"A powerful gut punch of a story." (Jennie Nash, author of The Threadbare Heart)