“A curse: a solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power. DiFrancesco’s memoir, Breaking the Curse, invokes power and summons the occult’s beauty as touchstones for the reader. It is its own spell, its own grimoire, its own invocation: a séance for souls whose voices are not remembered, not cared for, not HEARD. “In another universe,” DiFrancesco chants—let this be a manifestation for those in communities who need reassurance that their lives and bodies exist and matter, and let DiFrancesco’s words resound as a powerful promise that despite, despite, despite; resilience exists and it is alive within these pages.”
– Hillary Leftwich, author of Ghosts Are Just Strangers Who Know How to Knock and Aura: A Memoir
“I see this world as few others do," writes Alex DiFrancesco, and thank goodness for that. In their memoir, Breaking the Curse, DiFrancesco offers readers a mesmerizing vision of this world and the workings of trauma, gender identity and magic within it. A spell-binding work.”
– Molly Roden Winter, author of More: A Memoir of Open Marriage
“A phenomenal memoir that excavates deep into emotions, Alex DiFrancesco’s Breaking the Curse is a testament to resilience about belonging and identity. DiFrancesco writes with raw honesty about their struggles and trauma, shame, and violence as well as recovery and hope. There is a whole life assembled in every chapter than some live in a lifetime. At once heartbreaking and shaking with life, Breaking the Curse is brave, powerful, shining a light out of the darkness in a way few books dare to be.”
– Tara Isabel Zambrano, author of Ruined A Little When We are Born (DZANC Books, Fall 2024)
“In an act of magic and divine intention, DiFrancesco exquisitely recounts the nonlinear process of an extraordinary feat of healing. With a roar of pain that demands acknowledgement, they rise above seemingly insurmountable trauma, bypassing the heart-crushing constraints of community and familial wounds to find ancestral healing, forgiveness, and sacred purpose.
Their remarkable capacity to summon truth, self-discovery, and divine connection as an idiosyncratic, independent act of will serves as a powerful source of inspiration for all who have ever felt disconnected from the fundamental human desires we all share: community, family, safety, and spirituality.”
– Erin K. Barnes, aka Gogo Germaine, author of Glory Guitars: Memoir of a ‘90s Teenage Punk Rock Grrrl
“Breaking the Curse takes us to the edge and keeps us there in this beautifully crafted memoir. A detailed and intimate journey that takes us through the misogynistic and transphobic realities women and nonbinary people face when they stand up to power, the system, and their rapists. I felt like I needed to light cedar and sage to honor the words, the story, and the incredible path toward healing. Alex takes us to a deeper place I can only describe as a soul’s passage, recovering from male violence, the culture that protects it, and the wisdom of women and trans people who have known better for centuries. Sometimes magic is needed to heal where mortals fail.”
– Jo Vannicola, Emmy Award-winning actor and author of All We Knew But Couldn't Say
“Between the people who hurt us and the people we hurt along the way, between falls and recoveries, we have to build our own practices for finding peace. In this generous and magical book on living with trauma—part memoir, part grimoire—Alex DiFrancesco serves as an unflinching guide to that work.”
– Jeanne Thornton, author of Summer Fun
“Alex DiFracesco's searing account of misdiagnosed trauma, their spiritual trials through harmful systems (family, health, and otherwise), and their emergence emulates post-traumatic growth. Their writing is hauntingly authentic and their metaphors make lasting imprints. Breaking the Curse helps you believe that healing can be both magical and messy, where trauma chooses a path for them and then they manage to forge one with the guidance of their ancestors. It is both profoundly hopeful and menacingly raw.”
– Christy Gibson, MD, author of The Modern Trauma Toolkit
“Breaking the Curse by Alex DiFrancesco is the account of the author’s descent into their personal circles of hell. Visceral, and relentlessly grim, where Death is their ever-present companion prepared to offer sweet release, but DiFrancesco never loosens their grip on Hope. A triumph of perseverance over adversity, Life over Death. For anyone who has ever felt hopeless, this book is for you. Haunting.”
– Mary-Grace Fahrun, author of Italian Folk Magic: Rue’s Kitchen Witchery
“With Breaking the Curse, writer and editor Alex DiFrancesco ups the ante on memoirs. In their candid and irreverent voice, DiFrancesco calls on readers to struggle along with them from rape and addiction through tarot, magic and spirituality to security, hope and, ultimately, healing.”
– Ms. Magazine
“Alex DiFrancesco is another writer whose work spans styles and formats; this book sees them returning to nonfiction after two forays into speculative and fantastical fiction. . . .Thought-provoking and compelling.”
– Vol. 1 Brooklyn
“Everything. It would have been easy for DiFrancesco to have chosen privacy over vulnerability. To have allowed the comfortable sink of addiction to take them to dissociate. To have stopped speaking out. To have not published their story. But there is magic in using your voice, too, something DiFrancesco knows well. Summoning the courage to string together the right words, to demand to be heard takes an incredible amount of power.”
– North of Oxford
“Speaking about trauma may not always diminish its power, but writing one’s truth can prevent the pain from overwhelming everything, and this memoir is a great alternative to fiction to read this Pride.”
– Geek Girl Authority
“DiFrancesco doesn’t claim literal visions, but instead serves up a powerful, metatextual explanation for how visions apply to both the writing of this book and their work in editing. By the end of this powerful memoir, it doesn’t only feel like we’ve witnessed the breaking of a curse; we’ve also been given the tools to chip away at our own.”
– Chicago Review of Books
“DiFrancesco proves trauma is nonlinear. It is messy and complex. Many memoirs I’ve read from more commercial publishers tend to compress trauma into something flat and malleable, with a tidy, mess-free formulaic arc that lands on a high, often sentimental note. This usually feels gimmicky and inauthentic to me, which is one of the reasons I appreciate DiFrancesco’s fierce candor. They do not force the story into overdone conventions, while also landing on a hopeful note, but in a way that grows from their exploration. This artfully crafted narrative culminates in a way that lives up to the book’s title.”
– Broad Street Review
