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Also by Lynne Spears:

Through the Storm, September 2008
Hardcover

Through the Storm
Lynne Spears

A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World

Thomas Nelson
September 2008
On Sale: September 16, 2008
272 pages
ISBN: 1595551565
EAN: 9781595551566
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir

We all want our children to succeed. What happens when they do?

Britney wanted to sing ever since she was a little girl. But the years of sacrifices, auditions, performances, albums, fame, and paparazzi left the little Louisiana family swept up and spun around, and nothing turned out the way anyone ever imagined or wanted. Now Lynne shares the inside story of the Spears family as only a mother can.

Instant wealth and fame, a family in trouble, Britney's meltdown, Jamie Lynn's pregnancy, the ongoing struggle for healing, hope, and redemption-you won't get the real story from the tabloids, the TV magazines, the blogs, or the fan sites.

It all started out so simply: Talent shows and auditions for the Mickey Mouse Club. But when Britney's ship came in, it hit harbor with the blast of a hurricane and blew through the already-tense lives of parents Lynne and Jamie and their other children, Bryan and Jamie Lynn.

In 1999, while her parents filed for bankruptcy, Britney's first hit "Hit Me Baby One More Time" debuted at #1 on Billboard. Within a year, Britney won four Billboard Music Awards including Female Artist of the Year. In 2002, Britney Spears was chosen by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 Most Powerful People in Hollywood.

As a middle-class family in a small southern town (Kentwood, Louisiana; population 2,205), the Spears were unprepared for the pressures sudden celebrity and success would bring-the unending media scrutiny, the stalkers, the plague of the paparazzi. "Britney's fame came around the corner zooming at us all at 200 miles per hour," says Lynne.

As the business got bigger and enveloped more of Britney's life, Lynne lost control of her daughter as she and the family gave up more and more of their lives to help fulfill her dream. Lynne even gave up her beloved job as an elementary teacher. "We had no idea that one day soon the more money she made, the less influence we would have over our own child."

Pilloried in the public eye as a shameless self-promoter and stereotypical "stage mom" to the tenth power, Lynne had twin crosses to bear: Not only was she vilified in the press, but the media was also putting her children under a microscope. Trouble is that the media got it wrong.

Through the Storm takes readers beyond the reach of the paparazzi and outside the narrow orbit of the Hollywood glitterati. Lynne shares how fame forever changed their family; her regrets letting managers, agents, and record companies direct the lives of her children; the challenges that shaped Lynne and Jamie's failed marriage and how they affected Bryan, Britney, and Jamie Lynn; the startling events that led to Britney's meltdown; the aftermath of Jamie Lynn's pregnancy; and how the family has tried pulling together to recapture a sense of hope and purpose.

Through the Storm, says Lynne, is "the story of one simple Southern woman whose family got caught in a tornado called fame, and who is still trying to sort through the debris scattered all over her life in the aftermath. It's who I am, warts and all, with some true confessions that took a long time to get up the nerve to discuss."

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