A Damaged Girl

Essence® bestselling author Travis Hunter tells the story of a young woman who takes control of her own destiny after lifelong abuse.

Zola Zaire has not had an easy life. She was raped at thirteen by her mother’s boyfriend—with her mother’s permission. Her mother and the man went to prison for the crime, and Zola, damaged from the experience, spent years running wild. Abuse was all she’d known, and she got comfortable as a bottom dweller. Even after she gave birth to a son, she couldn’t get herself together, and her son was sent to a foster home.  

Now Zola is living with Andre, a wealthy man who has given her a more stable and luxurious life. Things are far from perfect, however, because Andre has started to use Zola as his punching bag. One night, as she races out of the house to escape from another beating, she is rescued by Ian DeMarco, a stranger who is driving by the scene. 

Ian and Zola’s chance encounter sets off a chain of events that neither of them could have foreseen. Ian finds himself needing help from the father he rejected long ago, and an unexpected murder leaves Zola fearing that she will be framed for the crime. An unlikely ally helps uncover the shocking truth about a deadly game of revenge that has left them both in danger.

Travis Hunter is an author, screenwriter, director, and public speaker. His first novel, The Hearts of Men, was originally published in 2000 by Hunter’s own company, Jimrose Publishing House. During the 2000 Book Expo America in Chicago, Hunter received an offer from Random House for the re-release of The Hearts of Men. And so began a successful evolution of published adult novels: Married but Still Looking, Trouble Man, A One Woman Man, Something to Die For, A Family Sin, Dark Child, and Momma’s A Virgin. Inspired by his work with teens as the founder of The Hearts of Men Foundation, Hunter created a young adult series: Two the Hard Way, At the Crossroads, and On the Come Up which were published by Kensington Publishing Group.

Hunter is a native of Florence, South Carolina and resides in an Atlanta Suburb. He is a veteran of the United States Army and graduate of Georgia State University where he majored in Film and Video and minored in Psychology. Always an avid reader, Hunter parlayed his passion for the written word into a career as an author, playwright and filmmaker which has produced 11 published novels, an Off-Broadway stage play for the adaptation of his novel, Married but Still Looking, and a short film which he wrote and directed based on his novel, Dark Child.