Leisha Joseph enjoyed a happy childhood as the treasured only daughter of an upper-middle-class family with three brothers and doting parents. When she was eight years old, all this changed abruptly with the death of her father. The strain on her mother manifested itself in wild behavior: After trying to burn the house down and chasing Leisha with a butcher knife, she was taken to the state mental hospital. Following the death of her beloved grandparents, Leisha was left to the care of her mother, who was frequently in and out of mental hospitals, and brought home a string of boyfriends, some...