By Debbie Burgamy

  Paul Miller has written a book that has been formulating in his mind for more than 50 years. The words rushed on to paper in just three months showing their desire to come out. This is Miller’s first book, and he says he has no current plans to write another even though readers have asked for a sequel. “A Place to Belong” delivers a message that Miller believes can help other people learn lessons that took him decades to comprehend.

  Beginning when Miller is eight years old, the book spans a period of nine years ending with his seventeenth birthday. Miller said he knew how he would end the book before he started to write it.

  “I promised myself I would do two things with this book. The first was that I would end it as I did, and the other was that I would tell the truth to the very best of my remembrances,” said Miller. Miller says the book is 99.8 percent true. He changed names of characters and in the editing process some things were omitted and events were tied together to keep the action moving at a reader’s pace, but nothing was added for sensationalism.

  The first eight years of Miller’s life could be characterized as normal. He was growing up as the youngest in a large, blue collar Catholic family in Detroit. Things changed drastically when his father quit his job at General Motors and announced his plans to move the family to Florida. Older siblings found ways to avoid the move, but Paul and his parents began a disjointed journey from Detroit to Florida to California and back to Detroit with many sidetracks along the way.

  As a young Child Miller was left alone for long periods of time to fend for himself with no money or provisions. In his desperation, he turned to petty theft, which escalated into premeditated breaking and entering. Hitchhiking across the country, Miller encounters both child predators and incredibly kind, good-hearted strangers.

  John Miller, Paul’s’ Dad, inflicted his own misery on the family, said Paul who as the youngest was the most defenseless. He suffered both mental and physical abuse at the hand of his Dad and watched his Mom endure daily torture before she died at a young age. Her death left him an even more vulnerable target.

  Miller says he was reluctant to write his story because he didn’t know if he had the ability to write a book. The bigger reason he hesitated was his shame and embarrassment about some of the things he had done as a teen. He says now that he doesn’t care who knows about his past because he wants his experiences to help others.

  “Writing this book was the best therapy in the world,” said Miller. “It enabled me to resolve my feelings of hate and truly forgive my Dad. I realize now that Dad was a sick man. In those days there was no Prozac or shrinks, but my Dad needed help that wasn’t available,” be added.

   Miller says reaction to his book has been overwhelmingly positive. Other people have been able to share their experiences and heal old wounds. Some readers have realized how much they have to be thankful for about their childhood and the blessing of good parents. Knowing the author adds a dimension to this book, but I believe anyone would find it captivating.