Marietta Sculptor Turns Author

The Valley of Innocence Lost by Don Haugen, of Marietta, details how a boy indoctrinated into his faith before he can talk, survives in an environment of shocking adult behavior.

From American memoirist, poet and sculptor Haugen, the author of Mom, Dad, Lawrence and Me, comes The Valley of Innocence Lost (ISBN 1469966891). In it, Haugen "revisits his Midwestern childhood in a story that shakes the reader to their core beliefs and proves that with the faith of a mustard seed, there are times a child must learn to survive," a press release said.

Set across the 1930s through the early 1950s, this author reveals a story that is the "antithesis of what childhood ought to be," the release said.  As a small boy, Haugen already knows hunger, fear and, thanks to his adulterous and absentee mother, way too much about wickedness and sin.

He also believes in an omnipotent God. It’s this impossible position of family loyalty and "godly faith that fuels his childhood anxiety as it is fanned into flames in the valley of evil."

The Valley of Innocence Lost gives a raw portrayal of the life of this young boy and what roles adults, religion and society played in creating the situation, the release said.

Haugen hopes his memoir, despite its brutally honest message, offers hope and proof that, no matter the horror, resilience is the reward. Haugen also hopes readers will begin to take notice of the dangers that may be affecting the lives of innocent children around them.

The Valley of Innocence Lost is now available for sale online at Amazon.com and other channels.

Donald Haugen has a bachelor’s from the University of Minnesota and a master’s from the University of Michigan. He worked as a social worker in Ann Arbor and has been a professional figurative sculptor for the past 30 years.

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