The Tell: Oprah's Book Club: A Memoir

Written by Amy Griffin

Narrated by Amy Griffin

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • A TIME BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An astonishing memoir that explores how far we will go to protect ourselves, and the healing made possible when we face our secrets and begin to share our stories

“The Tell encourages us to recognize that sometimes you must understand your own pain to fully experience life’s greatest joys—and Amy’s courage, vulnerability, and insight are a gift to us all.”—Reese Witherspoon, TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2025

“A beautiful account of the journey of courage it takes to face the truth of one’s past.”—Bessel van der Kolk, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score

For decades, Amy ran. Through the dirt roads of Amarillo, Texas, where she grew up; to the campus of the University of Virginia, as a student athlete; on the streets of New York, where she built her adult life; through marriage, motherhood, and a thriving career. To outsiders, it all looked, in many ways, perfect. But Amy was running from something—a secret she was keeping not only from her family and friends, but unconsciously from herself. “You’re here, but you’re not here,” her daughter said to her one night. “Where are you, Mom?” So began Amy’s quest to solve a mystery trapped in the deep recesses of her own memory—a journey that would take her into the burgeoning field of psychedelic therapy, to the limits of the judicial system, and ultimately, home to the Texas panhandle, where her story began.

In her search for the truth, to understand and begin to recover from buried childhood trauma, Griffin interrogates the pursuit of perfectionism, control, and maintaining appearances that drives so many women, asking, when, in our path from girlhood to womanhood, did we learn to look outside ourselves for validation? What kind of freedom is possible if we accept the whole story and embrace who we really are? With hope, heart, and relentless honesty, she points a way forward for all of us, revealing the power of radical truth-telling to deepen our connections—with others and ourselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Mar 11, 2025
• ISBN: 9798217020331

Reviews for The Tell

[xxgkddhkt5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

to the author, thank you for telling your story. so raw. so vulnerable. thank you.

[reluctanttechie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A friend recommended this book because of the topic. There was sexual abuse within her family that came out in later years, so she was sensitive to it.

The author finally grappled with the secret that had tormented her and drove her to excessive running and perfectionism. When the dark secret came out, she was then relentless in trying to get justice, to no avail. She had to learn to let it go as well as learning that sharing her story was therapeutic.

The entire subject was also a revelation to me.

[jacsun · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When justice against abuse isn’t always possible with the law, the next best thing is to tell the story. It has been said: writing can help us heal. It can also benefit readers especially those that can relate to a buried traumatic secret that is within.

Amy Griffin went to a therapist. She was a perfectionist and overachiever. She had a difficult time relaxing. Something was wrong and she needed to figure it out. Therapy was helpful but it wasn’t enough.

Next, she went to a counselor who gave her a psychedelic dose of pure MDMA. She said this drug was known to help people remember their past – a past that is so deep that it’s locked up inside the brain. When she learned about what happened to her at a young age, a huge burst of emotions came out. From that moment, her world changed.

She took time to examine the insides of her heart and soul. Griffin told her husband first, then reached out to her close friends, sister and parents in Texas and finally made her way to tell it to her four children. Her personal experience at 12 years old finally was revealed not just to her family and friends…but now to everyone.

This book is well written, informative and thought-provoking. The statistics are all over the map. It acknowledges that a high number of teenage girls suffer from abuse which affects their adult lives.

All readers should agree that this needs to change…but how when too often books with discussions about sexual harassment, violence have been taken off the shelves. Let’s hope this one stays. It’s a good book to help people regenerate their own power and strength.

My thanks to The Dial Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of March 11, 2025.