WAYNE — Ella Shay is not her real name.
But the rawness that consumes each page of her memoir is undeniably honest.
It begins with a car accident on a leafy side street and ends with an epiphany. For the intervening 145 pages, the reader chronologically jumps from one traumatic event to the next.
Some of the antagonists include an abusive boyfriend, a playground bully, and a narcissistic father. During his high school years, the author faced pressure to do drugs to fit in with the crowd and was torn between life and death many times.
First, she aborts the pregnancy when her boyfriend turns his back on her. Years later, she is forced to make a painful choice all by herself on behalf of her sick grandparents.
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Elisa D’Amelio, 41, now a proud mother of three and a resident of the town, hopes readers will find something they can relate to in her true story and be inspired to improve their lives. He said he hopes they will give it to him.
“I didn’t want to coat the surface with anything,” she said. “We didn’t want anything to look better than it actually was.”
D’Amelio will talk about her memoir, “From Broken to Beautifully Broken,” on Monday in a virtual chat hosted by a local library in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month.
This is part of a series of public appearances and speaking engagements she has planned in the coming weeks.
On May 19, D’Amelio will be honored on the field as a guest of RWJ Barnabas Health at a women’s professional soccer game at Red Bull Arena in Harrison.
The fanfare was never planned, she said.
D’Amelio taught fifth grade at Haledon, but resigned from that position during the pandemic. His subsequent feelings of isolation, combined with years of psychological trauma, manifested as an eating disorder. In March 2022, she was admitted to a treatment center to begin her recovery. Although her psychiatrist strongly recommended inpatient treatment for her, she agreed to partial hospitalization and was allowed to sleep at her home.
It wasn’t until she sat in a therapy session at the Somerville facility that she began to release her bottled-up pain.
D’Amelio kept a diary, and her writings formed the basis of the book, she said. Anger is prominent in her memoirs, and often she seems to harbor feelings of guilt and heartbreak.
One of the most tragic episodes in the book is the roller coaster pregnancy she endured five years ago. At first she was overjoyed when she learned that she was pregnant with her twins, but she was shocked when she learned that one of them had died in the womb. That’s how she finally came up with her own pen name.
Ella Shay is the daughter she lost.
Towards the end of her memoir, D’Amelio calls motherhood her “greatest accomplishment.” And for those who have been through too much, eternal happiness seems to come too late.
“Becoming a parent comes with a lot of emotions,” she writes. My children are good people. ”
The book is available for purchase on D’Amelio’s website, ellashae.com, and at Barnes & Noble at Plaza 46, a shopping center on Route 46 on the west side of Woodland Park.
Ms. D’Amelio said she is working with another publisher to repackage an updated version of her memoir on more platforms, including Audible, this summer.
Philip Devensentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from our local community, subscribe or activate your Digital His account today.
Email: devencentis@northjersey.com
Events that are about to happen
D’Amelio will talk about her memoir, “From Broken to Beautifully Broken,” with patrons of the Wayne Public Library.
when: Monday, May 13th, 7pm
where: This is an online event.
register: Visit the library’s website at waynepubliclibrary.org.
