Family Shattered
A Daughter's Heartbreak Through Elder Manipulation and Exploitation
by Piper-Lynn

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“So,” I would ask, again and again, “you actually believe this is acceptable? That it’s normal for a caregiver to become this embedded, this involved?” The worst part was hearing it from the people closest to me. “But your dad seems happy,” they’d say. “Why not just let it be?” If only it were that simple. It wasn’t just about happiness. It was about safety. Boundaries. Long-term trust. When Piper and her siblings hire a live-in caregiver for their aging father, they believe they are making the best decision. Macie arrives with glowing references and a composed demeanour, but beneath her poised exterior lies something dangerous. The youngest sibling sees her as a blessing. The older two begin to question her past, but no one wants to believe what they uncover. Their efforts to sound the alarm are met with silence, disbelief, and increasing alienation. But as their father’s health declines, Macie’s grip tightens. Told through eldest daughter Piper’s eyes, Family Shattered is a raw and intimate account of misplaced trust, emotional estrangement, and the unraveling of a family. It’s a story of standing firm in the face of dismissal—and the quiet devastation that follows when the truth is left unheard.

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Piper-Lynn is an author and retired, self-employed woman, a devoted wife, mother of four, and proud Nanna to eight grandchildren. Perceptive and endlessly curious, she is fascinated by people’s behaviours, their patterns, their silences, and the meanings hidden between the lines. Compelled by the challenging experience of hiring a live-in caregiver for her father, she wrote this, her first book, with honesty and courage. Beyond writing, she finds joy in curating her home through interior design, traveling with her husband of forty-seven years, and kayaking on the river behind their home.

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Piper-Lynn