What the System Couldn't Take
Language: English
Published by Kristy Sasnett, 2026
- Softcover
- New
Seller: PBShop.store UK, Fairford, GLOS, United KingdomPBShop.store UK
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 1999
Condition: New
£ 19.93
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
New Book. Shipped from UK. Established seller since 2000.
Seller Inventory # L2-9798235678859
- Title
- What the System Couldn't Take
- Author
- Sasnett, Kristy
- Publisher
- Kristy Sasnett
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- PAP
- Language
- English
- ISBN 13
- 9798235678859
- Item weight
- 87 grams
What the System Couldn't Take
A Powerful Story of Foster Care, Addiction, Faith, and Redemption
At five years old, Mariah Elena is taken from her teenage mother and placed into foster care. What's supposed to be temporary turns into thirteen years of instability-strangers' homes, trash bags for suitcases, and a childhood shaped by silence and survival.
Her mother, Lila Grace, does everything the courts demand to get her daughter back. Parenting classes. Drug tests. Hearings. Compliance. It's never enough. The system moves on. Their case is closed. But their love isn't.
When Mariah ages out of foster care at eighteen, she is alone-no family, no safety net, no roadmap for adulthood. Homelessness follows. So does addiction. Cocaine becomes heroin. Trauma stacks upon trauma. An abusive relationship nearly costs her life-and her unborn child's.
At her lowest point, facing the very real possibility of losing her baby to the same system that took her, Mariah makes a desperate choice: she enters rehab. There, in the middle of withdrawal, shame, and fear, she encounters the message of grace through Jesus Christ-a love she never knew she could claim for herself.
What follows is not an overnight miracle, but a hard-fought transformation. Through faith, accountability, and relentless determination, Mariah fights for sobriety, fights for motherhood, and ultimately fights to break a generational cycle of loss.
But one question still haunts her: What happened to her mother?
When Mariah finally searches for Lila, the reunion that follows is nothing short of life-altering-proof that while systems can separate families, they cannot permanently destroy what love and prayer have preserved.
What the System Couldn't Take is a raw, unflinching, and ultimately triumphant true story about foster care, aging out, addiction, domestic violence, and redemption. It's about the children who grow up carrying their lives in trash bags. It's about mothers who never stop fighting. And it's about a faith that refuses to let the broken stay broken.
For readers who were moved by stories of resilience and recovery, this memoir offers both heartbreak and hope-reminding us that while institutions may fail, grace does not.
Approximate length: 90,000 words.
This isn't just a story about survival.
It's a story about restoration.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Kristy Sasnett is a storyteller who writes about resilience, redemption, and the complicated paths people take to find their way back to themselves. Her work often explores themes of family, addiction, forgiveness, and the strength it takes to rebuild a life after it falls apart.
Drawing inspiration from real struggles and the quiet courage people show when they choose to change, Kristy focuses on stories that reveal both the darkness and the hope that can exist within the same life. Her writing reflects a deep belief that even when people break, healing and second chances are still possible.
Kristy lives in the southern United States, where she spends her time writing, creating new stories, and continuing to explore the power of storytelling to connect people through shared experiences of loss, growth, and redemption.
Shattered Bottles: A Mother's Descent and Rise is one of her works centered on the difficult but transformative journey of recovery and rebuilding a family after addiction.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
PBShop.store UK
Fairford, GLOS, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 1999
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 10 to 20 business days | 10 to 20 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 3.29 | £ 3.29 |
Payment methods
Store description
**Please note our transit times are from the date of dispatch.** We first started out as “The Paperback Exchange,” a chain of physical bookstores where we would part exchange your beloved books for new stories to transport you to faraway places. However, as shopping started to evolve to online shops and marketplaces, we bid our stores goodbye to become “PBShop.” This transition has only allowed us to blossom as we now ship thousands of titles to book lovers across the globe. We pride ourselves in being a community of local book lovers which allows our passion and devotion to shine in everything we do. In 2020 we not only celebrated our 20th birthday but our 1st birthday as being completely employee owned after becoming an E.O.T in September 2019. We are proud to be different and embrace standing apart on a book mountain by working from a virtual inventory which allows us to provide thousands of books that may be difficult to get for your bookshelf or your studies. Working with a number of different suppliers allows us to explore other avenues such as puzzles, sheet music and even stationery so we really do have something for everyone. Life is about being versatile in all realms of existence. If this is your first purchase with us, or you are a returning customer, we would like to welcome you to the PBShop family, for there is no friend as loyal as a book. We are a company who put our customers at the centre of everything we do as we understand the importance of reading because once you learn to read, you will forever be free. There are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that we are yet to explore, which is why we will forever inspire curious minds.…
Specialty
Hardbacks, PaperbacksSeller's business information
Pbshop.co.uk
Unit 22 Horcott Industrial Estate, Horcott Road
Fairford, United Kingdom GL7 4BX
Terms of sale
Returns Policy
We ask all customers to contact us for authorisation should they wish to return their order. Orders returned without authorisation may not be credited.
If you wish to return, please contact us within 14 days of receiving your order to obtain authorisation.
Returns requested beyond this time will not be authorised.
Our team will provide full instructions on how to return your order and once received our returns department will process your refund.
Please note the cost to return any unwanted order to us is borne by the buyer.
Should your order arrive damaged, not as advertised or faulty, we must be advised of this within 14 days of delivery. Please contact us so we can find the best solution for you.
Our Customer Care Team can be contacted by emailing alborders@paperbackshop.co.uk, or by calling our UK Office on +441285 712 917. We are available 9:00am till 5:30pm GMT Monday to Friday.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to PBShop.store UK, Fairford, United Kingdom, +44 1285 712917, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Orders are shipped from our UK warehouse. Delivery thereafter is between 4 and 14 business days. Please contact us if you have any queries about our services or products.