Myrna Boless parents name her after a movie star, but growing up, life is anything but glamorous.

In fact, she was lucky to be born at all, given that her mother tried to abort her by drinking turpentine. Fortunately, it didnt work, and in 1932 she was born. As a child, her family moved to the Bottomthe poor section of Union City, Tennessee.

They didnt get there by accident. Others had simply grown tired of trying to help the family out because they knew their money would just end up in the belly of Myrnas alcoholic father. Meanwhile, as time goes on, Myrnas mother struggles just to keep her sanity.

In this memoir, Myrna looks back at her life growing up in the rural South during the Great Depression, poor and unwanted. She endures bullying, abuse, cancer, and divorce. But through it all, she does her best to survive and seeks to find a better life From the Bottom.