“Moonshiner’s Daughter” by Mary J. Messer, is the courageous, unforgettable memoir about growing up deep in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, the child of an abusive moonshiner in the 1940’s and ’50’s. She escaped from the crushing poverty and abuse she had experienced from her parents and the school system when, as a young teenager, she happily became a mother’s helper and moved to northern Virginia. A while later, after a pleading call from her oldest sister in New York City, who had left a violent arranged marriage and young son in the Smoky Mountains to find a better life, Messer moved there to be with her. “Moonshiner’s Daughter” is told with the words of a barely educated child/teenager yet their meaning and her descriptions are clear as a mountain stream. Mary J. Messer, the moonshiner’s daughter, did survive and ultimately thrive, becoming a successful businesswoman and beloved mother.