Etched in Sand: A True Story of Five Siblings Who Survived an Unspeakable Childhood on Long Island

#1 International Bestseller

Regina’s Calcaterra memoir, Etched in Sand, is an inspiring and triumphant coming-of-age story of tenacity and hope.
 
Regina Calcaterra is a successful lawyer, former New York State official, and foster youth activist. Her painful early life, however, was quite different. Regina and her four siblings survived an abusive and painful childhood only to find themselves faced with the challenges of the foster-care system and intermittent homelessness in the shadows of Manhattan and the Hamptons.
 
A true-life rags-to-riches story, Etched in Sand chronicles Regina’s rising above her past, while fighting to keep her brother and three sisters together through it all.
 
Beautifully written, with heartbreaking honesty, this inspiring memoir is an unforgettable reminder that regardless of social status, the American Dream is still within reach for those who have the desire and the determination to succeed.

This story of five siblings determined to stay together against all odds explores:

• The Foster Care System: The heartbreaking reality of being a ward of the state, and the constant fight to keep five siblings from being separated.
• Child Abuse Survival: An unflinching account of surviving a profoundly troubled and abusive mother and the intermittent homelessness that followed.
• From Homelessness to Hope: A true rags-to-riches journey from wandering the beaches of Long Island to becoming a successful lawyer and New York State official.
• An Unbreakable Bond: How Regina and her four siblings—Cherie, Camille, Norman, and Rosie—relied on each other as a scrappy pack, creating their own family when no one else would.

In this story of perseverance in the face of adversity, Regina Calcaterra recounts her childhood in foster care and on the streets—and how she and her savvy crew of homeless siblings managed to survive years of homelessness, abandonment, and abuse

Regina Calcaterra's emotionally powerful memoir reveals how she endured a series of foster homes and intermittent homelessness in the shadow of the Hamptons, and how she rose above her past while fighting to keep her brother and three sisters together.

Beautifully written and heartbreakingly honest, Etched in Sand is an unforgettable reminder that regardless of social status, the American dream is still within reach for those who have the desire and the determination to succeed.

Riveting reading from start to finish… Never once does she flinch from the terrible truths with which she has lived and so courageously reveals here. - Kirkus Reviews

Courageous and fascinating, written with a descriptive restraint that recalls moments of tragedy and perseverance with simplicity and subtlety… Calcaterra concludes her story with the genuine sentiment that ‘we all have to believe.’ At the end of this unforgettable book, readers will. - Publishers Weekly