Crying Wolf: A Memoir
Shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Nonfiction
It's a tale as old as time. Girl meets boy. Boy wants girl. Girl says no. Boy takes what he wants anyway.
After a violent sexual assault, Eden Boudreau was faced with a choice: call the police and explain that a man who wasn't her husband, who she had agreed to go on a date with, had just raped her. Or go home and pray that, in the morning, it would be only a nightmare.
In the years that followed, Eden was met with disbelief by strangers, friends, and the authorities, often as a result of stigma towards her non-monogamy, sex positivity, and bisexuality. Societal conditioning of acceptable female sexuality silenced her to a point of despair, leading to addiction and even attempted suicide. It was through the act of writing that she began to heal.
Crying Wolf is a gripping memoir that shares the raw path to recovery after violence and spotlights the ways survivors are too often demonized or ignored when they belong to marginalized communities. Boudreau heralds a new era for others dismissed for "crying wolf." After all, women prevailing to change society for others is also a tale as old as time.
Praise for Crying Wolf:
“Crying Wolf is a phoenix rising from the ash of Boudreau’s pain. In her stunning and eloquent debut, Boudreau takes readers on a harrowing journey through some of her darkest days, while holding a mirror to a society that perpetuates the shaming of those who live in the margins. Readers will close Crying Wolf with a sense of having been changed by the story of healing and returning to oneself, but most of all, will find themselves hopeful for the future.”
— Kelly S. Thompson, national bestselling author of Girls Need Not Apply and Still, I Cannot Save You
“It takes an incredibly brave, special writer to lay her soul bare. Eden Boudreau is that writer. In her raw, vulnerable, at times gut-wrenching, and always inspiring memoir, Crying Wolf, Boudreau details her violent sexual assault and her painful journey toward healing. An openly bisexual, polyamorous woman, Boudreau anticipates every negative judgment and the blame others will place upon her because she is her own harshest critic. Yet, through deep soul-searching, therapy, and the power of the pen, she finds her path toward self-acceptance and gives a voice to those unable to share their own stories of violence and terror. Crying Wolf is a tale of strength, sorrow, and authenticity, and a lesson to be ourselves, because we have only one life to live."
— Samantha M. Bailey, author of Woman on the Edge and Watch Out for Her
“Eden Boudreau’s debut memoir is a searing and unflinching record of the assault and aftermath of sexual violence. Admirers of Alice Sebold and Sarah Polley should make room on their shelf for this evocative account of rape by a third partner within a polyamorous marriage—and the internal and systemic wounds which occur as a result. With her incisive wit, heartbreaking insight, and riveting storytelling, Boudreau has earned my admiration as both a talented writer and a steadfast survivor.”
— Amber Cowie, author of Last One Alive
“This book. Where to begin. This was heartbreaking and hopeful. Tough to read, but flowed. So relatable and terrifying. It is so hard to read a first hand account of assault. Or the aftermath, the pressures and the way it weeds its way into totally unrelated aspects of your life. Boudreau bravely shares her story and allows space for others who have experienced trauma to learn from and find solace in her journey. A beautiful but sometimes difficult read, Boudreau will have you sobbing, laughing and rooting for her each step of the way."
— Maggie Giles, author of TWISTED
“Boudreau’s early passion for writing and reading turned out to be key to her recovery. On the advice of her therapist, she took up her pen and joined a writing retreat with a literary idol. In the end, she weighed the potential shame of going public with a trial against taking charge of her own story and how it would be told. Crying Wolf is the result of that choice: a battle cry for women who have survived assault.”
— Suzanne Kamata, Foreword Reviews
“I read this memoir in a matter of days - it's the type of book that's difficult to find words for. Eden Boudreau is a hugely talented writer, unflinching. Her writing is honest and raw, and hard to read at times, because of that honesty, but that's what makes this book so important. She puts herself - the good, the not so good, the vulnerable - on the page for the world to see, opening our eyes to the ravages of not just physical assault but the months and years' long assault that follows emotionally, mentally and socially. She holds a light to society’s conventions and tendency to judge any choice that falls outside of those conventions. She painstakingly explains why so many women remain silent, or choose not to put themselves through the secondary assault of trying for a conviction against their assailant. Thankfully, both for Boudreau and the reader, she recounts, too, the journey toward healing: not being healed, as that’s not a conclusive thing, but embracing “the choice to move forward.”
— Charlene Carr, author of HOLD MY GIRL
