W
ith parents tormented by secrets, guilt, and shame, Jo Dibblee quickly learned to protect herself. Faced with her parents’ alcoholism, drug abuse, and depression, along with the sexual assault and stalking of an “upstanding” foster parent, Jo began, early in life, to use a coping strategy she now calls frocking.”
With humor and hope, Jo shares the harrowing rollercoaster of her life story and gives the low-down on frocking—how she learned it and used it to survive, how she found it holding her back and what she had to do to, once and for all, Frock Off.
Despite harsh truths, brushes with death and agonizing betrayals, Jo’s heart shines through these pages, offering promise, wisdom and inspiration to any reader who has learned to hide and longs to be free.
Frock Off is not only my memoir; it is also written in memory of a little girl who was murdered by my assaulter. Susan Duff, lost her life at the hands of a sexual predator when she was only twelve years old. In the times of my life, when I was frocking up, Susan was my guiding angel. I carry her picture with me, always. For over thirty-five years, I was a key witness for the RCMP in the murder case and lived ‘disguised’ out of fear and necessity. Frocks protected me, but they also ruled my life.
At times donning a frock out of fear, to keep a secret or because of shame may seem the only way but frocks are like lies. They start to pile up and soon they take on a life of their own.
“Jo Dibblee has written a powerful and sometimes shocking autobiography, which at the same time, is compelling and inspirational.” – James Miller, manager editor, Penticton Herald (daily)
“A lot of books inspire us, but few will deeply move you like Jo Dibblee’s tenacious voice for internal freedom. You’ll cry, get angry and cheer our heroine on, only to discover it was YOU, the reader, who needed to cry, get angry and cheer YOURSELF on. These words of courageous expression will have you shouting FROCK OFF, often! I highly recommend” – Shawne Duperon, 6-Time EMMY Winner, Project: Forgive Founder
