Name: Before I Leave You: A Memoir on Suicide, Addiction and Healing
Author: Robert Imbeault

About the Book

When Robert Imbeault began writing this book, he did so with the intention of ending his life once the book was finished. Robert was in the midst of a five-year suicidal drug and alcohol binge that began after the sudden resurfacing of a buried memory from when he was eight years old. Robert turned to writing, determined to chronicle his life before and after the violent encounter that shattered his reality. As his life inched back toward normalcy, Robert found new reasons to keep writing. After a series of small steps forward, and a few steps back, Robert found his way to sobriety. He regained his health and began to treat himself and everyone around him with love and kindness. Today, Robert enjoys a life filled with gratitude and joy he thought he’d never live to see. In Before I Leave You, he shares his real and raw account of how he clawed his way back from the brink, forgave himself, and wrote a new ending to his story.

Praise

“Before I Leave You is Rob Imbeault's haunting true tale of how a childhood trauma can stay hidden from you for decades, always following like a ghost that you can never quite glimpse, and definitely never outrun--no matter how many drugs, drinks, and distractions you throw in its path--until you have no choice but to face it.”

— Laurie Gough, author of Kite Strings of the Southern Cross, Kiss the Sunset Pig, and Stolen Child

“A savagely brilliant account of a man who chooses to make every wrong decision he can...and then turns it around. A searingly honest, compelling read for anyone who has ever struggled with mental health...or life.”

— Declan Hill, PhD, international bestselling author of The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime and The Insider's Guide to Match-Fixing in Football

About Robert Imbeault

Robert Imbeault Robert Imbeault is a successful entrepreneur and childhood sexual abuse survivor. Straddling the line between poor and destitute, Robert was raised by a single mother in a failing steel town. He's gone from sleeping on the street to building startups and even meeting the Queen. He's had an essay published in The Globe and Mail, was profiled in Courage Magazine for his work with the Cancer Foundation, and was a recipient of the 2010 Business Journal's Forty Under 40 award. Recently retired, Robert spends time writing, reading, and enjoying his family. For more information, visit robimbeault.com.