Walking on Broken Glass
A raw, unforgettable memoir by Janet Pinkney — a woman who faced trauma, grief, violence, illness, and crushing loss, yet still found a way to keep moving forward with dignity, courage, and purpose.
This is not a soft story.
This is a memoir for readers who understand that survival is not always pretty, healing is not always quiet, and strength is not always polished. Sometimes it looks like getting up anyway.
Born in Philadelphia as the Civil Rights Movement ignited, Janet Pinkney’s unflinching memoir follows a life marked by extraordinary challenges and unexpected triumphs. From teenage motherhood at sixteen to facing breast cancer at the same time as her daughter, Janet’s story is a fierce portrait of resilience.
With deep honesty, she shares the harsh realities of growing up in the projects, navigating domestic violence, and witnessing addiction devastate beloved family members. She also reveals how she refused to surrender her dreams, eventually earning her college degree while raising two children alone.
Walking on Broken Glass is not only personal. It also confronts the larger systems that weigh on African American families while offering readers insight, truth, and practical wisdom.
“Even when every step feels painful, we can still forge a path forward with dignity, purpose, and hope.”
Get your copy of this powerful memoir and experience a story of truth, survival, courage, and hope.
Buy Walking on Broken GlassWhy readers will connect with this book 💥
- It tells the truth about pain without surrendering to it.
- It honors the reality of struggle while still making room for hope.
- It speaks to women, mothers, survivors, and anyone rebuilding after loss.
- It carries both personal testimony and cultural insight.
Meet the Author
Janet Pinkney
Janet Pinkney writes from the place where lived experience meets courage. Her story is not dressed up for approval. It is honest, human, painful, and triumphant in all the ways real life tends to be.
In Walking on Broken Glass, she invites readers into a journey shaped by loss, perseverance, family, survival, faith, and the stubborn refusal to quit.
What this book delivers
This memoir does more than tell a story. It offers perspective, emotional truth, and the reminder that surviving is its own kind of brilliance.
Resilience
A deeply honest look at how one woman kept moving through grief, poverty, violence, illness, and disappointment without losing herself.
Reality
No fake polish. No pretending. Just a powerful story told with directness, dignity, and emotional courage.
Hope
Not shallow optimism — real hope, the kind that survives hard years and still chooses to rise.
What readers are saying
A story like this does not leave people where it found them.
“Walking on Broken Glass is one of those books that reaches into your chest and sits there. Janet Pinkney tells the truth with courage, and that honesty makes this memoir unforgettable. It is painful, beautiful, and deeply human.”
“This book is for every woman who has had to survive what should have broken her. Janet’s story is raw, powerful, and full of dignity. I didn’t just read it — I felt it. And I know other readers will too.”
A memoir that does not look away
Some books entertain. Some books encourage. Some books sit down next to you and tell the truth. This one does the third.
Janet’s narrative explores both the personal and the systemic. It shows what it means to grow up inside pressure, survive what should have broken you, and still keep hold of your future.
This is a book for readers who appreciate courage, testimony, women’s strength, Black family stories, and the hard-earned wisdom that comes from surviving the fire.
Yes — I Want This Book
Some women break. Some women become sharper.
Walking on Broken Glass is for the reader who needs something real — a story that does not flinch, does not perform, and does not apologize for telling the truth.