The Inheritance of Shame is the true story of author Peter Gajdics’ six years in a bizarre form of conversion therapy in British Columbia, Canada. Under the control of a rogue psychiatrist in a cult-like therapeutic house, Gajdics and other patients endured intense psychological manipulation, heavy medication, and attempts to sever ties with their birth families. Juxtaposed against his parents’ own traumatic histories—his mother’s escape from a communist concentration camp in post-WWII Yugoslavia and his father’s upbringing as an orphan in war-torn Hungary—the memoir explores the devastating impact of conversion therapy, the dark forces of oppression, and the will to survive. Spanning decades and continents, its themes are universal: generational trauma, childhood sexual abuse, powerlessness in the face of adversity, self-acceptance, identity, and the resilience of the human spirit.
Over the years Gajdics has spoken and written about the history and documented harms of so-called conversion therapy, as well as the advocacy work he was involved in to help end these treatments—including helping initiate Canada’s first municipal ban in 2018 and providing testimony in support of a federal ban in 2020–2021. For a more detailed discussion, see the Notes page.
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Winner, Silver Medal in LGBT Nonfiction
2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards
Finalist for Sixth Annual Saints and Sinners Emerging Writer Award
Self-portraits
One year before therapy (1988)
One year into therapy (1991)
Two years into therapy (1992)
BOOK DETAILS:
TITLE: The Inheritance of Shame: A Memoir
AUTHOR: Peter Gajdics
PUBLISHER: Brown Paper Press
PUBLICATION DATE: May 16, 2017
CATEGORY: Nonfiction
ISBN: 978-1-941932-08-7
PAGES: 360
PRICE: $17.00 (print), $13.99 (ebook)
TRIM: 5×8
DISTRIBUTOR: SCB Distributors
CONTACT: Wendy Thomas Russell, wendy@brownpaperpress.com
WEBSITE: www.brownpaperpress.com