Author Kate Price - Kate Price

Kate Price grew up in a small mill town in central Pennsylvania with her sister and parents in northern Appalachia. At the insistence of her mother, and through her academic accomplishments, Price escaped the unbroken cycles of poverty, violence, addiction, mental illness, and abuse that had plagued her family for generations. She started a new life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in pursuit of her master’s and Ph.D. But despite having left this dark world behind, it still kept a firm grip on her.

An OPRAH DAILY Best Book of Fall • An INDIE NEXT Pick for August
An AMAZON Editors' Pick for Memoir • A WASHINGTON POST Noteworthy Book
A BOOKREPORTER Bets On Selection • A BOOK RIOT Must-Read Memoir of 2025

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Click to read an excerpt of This Happened to Me: A Reckoning on Oprah Daily

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“A brilliant and moving account of a journey of healing from the confusion and betrayal of intrafamiliar sexual abuse. The complex and arduous labor of learning to accept knowing what you know and feeling what you feel, despite its devastating impact on your sense of belonging and community. Kate Price’s book reminds me of the greatest lesson from my old teacher: 'you have only one textbook, and that is your patients'."
— Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.,
New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

"Kate Price’s journey is sometimes dark and often harrowing, but in This Happened To Me she confronts her demons with fierce, eloquent enlightenment. Price not only rises above the hurt and hate, she uses her hard-won insights to shine a light for others."
— Jeannette Walls,
New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle

“Out of the ravages of a childhood that would have left almost anyone scarred to the point of life-long silence comes this gorgeous, blistering, monumental achievement of a book. Kate Price has found her voice, and what a voice it is. Read it and weep, and rejoice at the power of the human spirit to transcend.”
— Dani Shapiro,
New York Times bestselling author of Inheritance

"A gripping story, told with grace and compassion, about surviving horrific childhood abuse that went on for years with the complicity of a small town community. In daring to speak about the unspeakable, Kate Price challenges all of us to face the reality of child sex trafficking and to put a stop to it."
— Judith L. Herman, M.D.,
author of the groundbreaking work Trauma and Recovery and
Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice

Kate Price

On July 31, 2022 the article “Kate Price Remembers Something Terrible” appeared in the Globe Sunday Magazine. The story, written by Boston Globe journalist Janelle Nanos, chronicles Price and Nanos’s decade-long collaboration to investigate her commercial sexual exploitation history in northern Appalachia. A story of unparalleled resilience and determination, Price’s life is filled with moments of heart-wrenching survival and tender perseverance. Her expertise sheds light on the complex crisis of child sex trafficking and the story of her journey is a testament to grit and resilience. Nanos was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature reporting for this story. Please note, the Boston Globe article is behind a paywall, requiring a subscription or library access to view.

Mill Girl Books

Stay tuned to my website for updates about Mill Girl Books, the independent bookshop I am opening in central Pennsylvania. The name Mill Girl Books honors my mother and grandmothers, who were all mill girls in my hometown's textile factories (only one of the three has shuttered). In 2022 I joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation to help me prepare to renovate and restore a historic building on my hometown's main street. This is another step forward in my dream to create a safe space for young Appalachian readers and writers, continuing the literary traditions in central Pennsylvania that helped shape me. Books and my hometown library saved my life.

Check out my new Mill Girl Books Spotify channel. You can listen to the This Happened to Me: A Reckoning playlist, as well as other artists that I will play in the background at the bookshop.