Author Tom North Wins Living Now Book Award Gold Medal

CARMEL, Calif. - Sept. 22, 2013 - PRLog -- CARMEL, California (September 2013) – True North Productions, LLC, announces that author Tom North has won a Living Now Book Award Gold Medal for his book, True North – The Shocking Truth about “Yours, Mine and Ours” in the Inspirational Memoir - Male category.

Author Tom North remarks, “I am so pleased that my book won a Living Now Award Gold Medal! I am also gratified to hear from so many readers who tell me that reading my book has empowered them to make lifestyle changes – from facing their fears to learning mind/body/spirit healing techniques – people are on a new road to recovery from child abuse, and to a brighter, more peaceful life.”

The Living Now Book Awards celebrate the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives, from cooking and fitness to relationships and mature living. The gold, silver and bronze medalists in this year’s Living Now Book Awards offer a list of books representing lifestyle publishing categories such as home, health, family and personal development which are the fastest-growing segments of book publishing today.

The awards are presented by Jenkins Group of Traverse City, Michigan. Jenkins Group has been involved in book packaging, marketing and distribution since 1988, and is dedicated to promoting books that improve readers’ lives, bring families together, and make the world a safer, healthier place. Jim Barnes, Awards Director notes: “Authors and publishers all over the planet are helping readers sense the need to slow down, see and feel the natural world around them, and to find balance in their lives. The Living Now Book Awards are intended to recognize and promote newly-published lifestyle books that help us keep ourselves, our families, and the Earth healthy – today, and for future generations. Books are an important tool for gaining knowledge about life-improvement goals, and the Living Now Book Award (http://www.independentpublisher.com/article.php?page=1694) results announcement is a must-read list for helping us achieve those goals.”

About the Book

After years of struggling with the decision about whether or not to tell his true story of growing up in the family made famous by a hit movie, author Tom North gathered  the courage needed to write his book, True North – The Shocking Truth about “Yours, Mine and Ours”. It wasn’t easy to write a story that many might consider too private or that would make people uncomfortable. After all, the idyllic seaside community might be rocked by the true story about the famous Carmel family featured in the movie. What would people think and say?

Tom North explains, “In the 47 years since the movie, ‘Yours, Mine and Ours’, starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, became the 4th highest grossing film of 1968, it has not been unusual that one of my siblings or I are asked what it was like to be one of ‘that big wonderful family’.  Having seen the film many times, I must agree that what became known among my family members as ‘the big lie’ was actually a very charming film and a well-told story. Would that it had been true!”

The book begins in the 1950s on Whidbey Island, Washington, where Tom’s mother, Helen North, became a widow when she was just 30 years old and pregnant with her eighth child.  Not long after, Helen North met and married Frank Beardsley, a man with 10 children, and they moved to Carmel, California. The North children were adopted and their names were changed to Beardsley, and they went from a life filled with love and happiness, to living a nightmare. The stepfather’s violence, abuse, and even sexual abuse created a life of intimidation, confusion, turmoil, fear and depression for the North children. All hope seemed lost as Tom realized that he was caught in a prison and there was no way out.

“True North is the story of my journey through domestic violence and child abuse, and the poor choices I made,” North remarks. “My siblings and I had the awesome burden of shame which is not unusual for victims. We had also had to hide the truth because we were famous. No one would believe that this perfect family was so far from perfect!”

The silence that surrounds domestic violence and child abuse in America is deafening.  One doesn’t have to look far to find shocking statistics. The traumas experienced by children as a result of domestic violence and sexual abuse all too often carry into adulthood in the form of poor academic achievement, lower IQ scores, poor language skills, low self-esteem and trauma-related symptoms. Victims often travel down destructive paths which include drug abuse, crime and even continuation of the child abuse cycle as they abuse their own children.

North adds, “The healing never stops. Every day is another day of coping. But there is help, and hope.” Tom North blogs at his website www.TrueNorthbyTomNorth.com

Tom North appears on radio and television programs, is featured in newspapers and magazines, and is a keynote speaker. He  is an Official Supporter of National CASA for Children.

True North – The Shocking Truth about “Yours, Mine and Ours” is published by True North Productions, LLC, and is available wherever books are sold.