Sh!thouse (A Memoir)

“Sh!thouse is one fierce read. And I mean fierce in the best of ways- fiercely honest, fiercely funny and fiercely loving.” Lisa Fugard, author of Skinner’s Drift

“In Sh!thouse, Duke writes with a poignant pen as she weaves a tale of a gritty family who knows love only as a dangerous façade where wielding butcher knives, shooting heroin, and grand theft auto are pastimes during childcare.” Amy E. Wallen, bestselling novelist, and memoirist 

“Sh!thouse is that special brand of memoir that not only grabs your attention and won’t let go but also inspires you to heal your own shit.” Kristen Mcguiness: bestselling author of 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life

Lauren was seven when she helped her stepfather boost rum bottles from the local liquor store. The following year, her biological father took her to a hotel room and shot up heroin in the bathroom. The next day he robbed a bank with a finger gun. When he was released from prison years later, he moved into Lauren’s basement. They spent the weekends smoking cartons of cigarettes, diving into dumpsters, and swindling used cars. 

Lauren’s upbringing provided her with only one lens through which she saw herself―shame. That shame overflowed into every aspect of her life.

In this compassionate and gritty real-life fairytale, Lauren Dollie Duke shows how it’s possible for good people to do bad things, and what it takes to create peace with where you come from in order to find happiness.

This raw and humorous account of trauma, transcendence, and resilience challenges the binary of good vs. evil and lays out the evolution of shame psychology and intergenerational trauma. It seeks to answer the question of how we unravel ourselves from the history and patterns of our families. 

Sh!thouse is a beautifully written map that draws back to the personal root of where sabotaging behavior, shame, and limitation is born.