by Barbara Mangini (Author)

The Proving Grounds takes place in a small Pennsylvania coal town in 1966. Sixteen-year-old Rose, whose mother is mentally ill and institutionalized, is seduced by a coal miner. Rose becomes pregnant and is struck by an illness no one can understand. Rose's grandmother, Margaret, is her caretaker but she's at a loss to help Rose. What can she do but side with the doctors who label Rose a product of her mother's insanity? Extreme treatments begin --- treatments like intravenously induced intoxication, time spent alone in darkened rooms, and overdoses of Thorazine. Rose has to fight for herself and her baby. Fighting means learning the surprising secret that caused her mother's illness, how it has affected her, and how to convince the doctors her illness is real.

Author Biography

Barbara Mangini is a sales and marketing consultant. Her training books, magazine articles, keynote addresses, and presentations have been used to inspire and train personnel worldwide. While her entrepreneurial spirit and delivery style has won her awards like Educator of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and Top 100 Most Influential People, her ambition is to help women by weaving a story centered on a debilitating illness she had when she was a young woman. She has accomplished this in The Proving Grounds. Mangini and her husband, John, live near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.