Jerri Lynn Sparks '98

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Jerri Lynn Sparks '98 has published her first memoir, "Surviving Madmen: One Woman's Encounters With A Governor, Two Congressmen, And A Spouse." Sparks was a congressional press secretary living out her childhood dream in the halls of the U.S. House of Representatives. She had an Ivy League-educated husband and beautiful children with a white picket fence. And then, one by one, the men in her life fell from grace, from her boss resigning in a nationally televised scandal to her spouse becoming mentally ill and trying to kill her, kidnapping her kids in the process. The memoir tells the true story of how Sparks rebuilt her life with her children and became a volunteer firefighter to give back to those who helped save her in the process.

Sparks hopes that by revealing the details of a 20-year marriage, we can finally address as a society the commonly asked question, "Why didn't she just leave?" in an in-depth way, focusing the much-needed cultural conversation on solutions instead of survivor shaming - ultimately saving lives in the process.