After escaping an abusive marriage, Cara Brookins had four children to provide for and no one to turn to but herself. In desperate need of a home but without the means to buy one, she did something incredible.

Equipped only with YouTube instructional videos, a small bank loan and a mile-wide stubborn streak, Cara built her own house from the foundation up with a work crew made up of her four children.

It would be the hardest thing she had ever done. With no experience nailing together anything bigger than a bookshelf, she and her kids poured concrete, framed the walls and laid bricks for their two story, five bedroom house. She had convinced herself that if they could build a house, they could rebuild their broken family.

This must-read memoir traces one family’s rise from battered victims to stronger, better versions of themselves, all through one extraordinary do-it-yourself project.

But the idea of sharing our story was kinda like a kid on a long trip, a nagging voice that wouldn't leave me alone even after I fed it chocolate and turned up the radio. (How much longer?)

So I did what anyone would have. I gave in and tried to write it. Failed. Tried again. Failed. Rinse & repeat for SIX YEARS.

Then Rise sold in a big New York auction. And days before the book release, reporters showed up at our house. (Yup, the one we built.) Then my email & phone went crazier than that kid in the back seat on a Mountain Dew binge.

After a whirlwind of talk shows, magazines, and movie producers, I realized that the buzz was here to stay. Notes poured in from men and women around the world who were inspired to build something big of their own.

What had started as a way to get my family's future moving had become a movement. We're still building. Still rising.