Mary La Grande Nicholas

Thru Hell on the Good Foot: the Biography of Mary La Grande Nicholas

Author Mary La Grande Nicholas's life hasn't always been easy, but she credits a guardian angel for helping her navigate to the place she is today. In Thru Hell on the Good Foot, she shares anecdotes and stories from her life's journey. Her story begins with her birth in 1946 in High Point, North Carolina, the second of two daughters. She tells of her father's death when she was two years old, her mother's remarriage, her mother's death when Mary was just eight years old, and Mary's subsequent move to New Jersey to live with relatives. She shares a host of traumatic stories, including a confrontation with the Ku Klux Klan, encounters with a pimp and drug dealers, and a beating from police. Thru Hell on the Good Foot demonstrates her courage and perseverance as she followed the path to adulthood without parents or a proper role model, eventually becoming a nurse and caring for patients with Alzheimer's disease. Her story communicates there is help and hope.