Against the Tide is the story of a young girl's struggle to achieve the goal she had always hoped and prayed for, yet could only imagine . . . a normal life. Mimi faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles; poverty, physical abuse, teen marriage, motherhood, not to mention the opposition of her own family. But she is more than determined that her young son, Adam, will not grow up in a world where these behaviors are not only tolerated, but considered normal. Mimi knows, as a teenaged mother, she doesn't have all the answers and isn't even sure what some of the questions should be but she takes comfort in the two words that everyone who knows her has always used to describe her . . . smart and stubborn. Those particular traits may have irritated her grandparents, parents, and teachers, not to mention her husband, but Mimi thought if she could just be smart enough to find the answers she needed and stubborn enough to stick it out when things got tough, she could get herself and Adam out of the neighborhood and the life that went with it. She only hoped that once she did, she could figure out how to build a better life on the other side. Mimi knew what it took to survive the world she was in, had an inkling of what it might take to get out, but had absolutely no idea what came after that. She could only pray she would know what to do when the time came and be able to find the courage to do it. So she closed her eyes, took a deep breath . . . and dove in.