CLOUD PEOPLE: HOPE BEYOND THE STORMS is a powerful memoir of survival, resilience, and the human spirit’s capacity to heal. On her third birthday, Miriam is violently thrown down a cement staircase by her father. Too young to speak of her trauma, she turns to drawing, with her older brother translating her pain into words. Growing up amidst fear and cruelty, Miriam finds love and support in a few caring figures—her adopted mother, a kind neighbor, her maternal grandmother, her stepfather, and her brother—nurturing a resilience that refuses to break. At sixteen, Miriam faces another unimaginable trial: pregnancy by a rapist and the violent opposition of her mother, who drags her to back-door clinics up and down the East Coast. Ultimately, she makes a life-altering choice that no woman should ever have to face. With honesty and compassion, BJ Rae blends lived experience and counseling wisdom, offering a story of heartbreak, hope, and the journey from victim to survivor to thriver.