GOP lawmaker Holly Thompson Rehder of Scott City pens memoir

This story is updated.

Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder of Scott City (R-27) is coming out with a book later this summer titled "Cinder Girl: Growing Up on America's Fringe."

The 320-page memoir, which publisher Bombardier Books calls "a towering literary triumph which melds searing and tragic personal history with an incredible story of resilience, hope and civic success," will be out in hardcover and on Kindle on Aug. 9.

Rehder, who has served a decade in Missouri's General Assembly, spent part of last week in Nashville, Tennessee, in a recording studio laying down audio files for her life story.

The legislator's book, among other revelations, discusses a bad car accident at age 15, becoming a teenage mother, succeeding in business and launching a political career in Missouri's Legislature — winning her first race in 2012.

• Where does the phrase "Cinder Girl" originate?

"My favorite movie is 'Ever After' with Drew Barrymore. It's a different type of a Cinderella story where she (the protagonist) is not saved by a male hero. She works her tail off and isn't bitter at all. She saved herself. She didn't look like she would become much but God had a different plan. I very much identified with the character."

State Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder of Scott CitySubmitted

• The photo on the book's dust jacket shows you as a young woman with a determined look on your face holding a baby. Tell us about that picture.

"I was 16 at the time, holding my baby girl, Raychel, when she was just 10 months old. The photo was taken in Sikeston. As for the look, I've always been an intense person. I knew I didn't have help from parents and understood 100% of the responsibility to raise (Raychel) was on me. The book is about giving hope, first of all, to people who grew up like me. Your past doesn't define you. You define who you are. It doesn't matter where you've come from or what you've come out of. You get to define your future -- and that's the American dream, isn't it?"

• In the book, you discuss how you learned to stretch a dollar early in life. Give an example of your experience with frugality, please.

"You can go to the grocery with $20 and buy a bag of beans, flour, corn meal and eggs and make meals for multiple days — or at least you could back then. I remember being 17 in Mississippi, going down to the store and buying five cans of Vienna sausages and rationing them between me and my daughter. I recall often buying day-old bread, too, to make what money I had go farther."

• The book discusses the importance of trying to understand the life journeys of other people, yes?

"There's a lot of people who grew up like me and changed the poverty cycle of their lives. Survival comes in many forms. God's given me a microphone and it's not because I'm so smart or super special. There's nothing about my past that would land me in the Missouri Senate."

"Cinder Girl," published by Bombardier Books, may be pre-ordered via www.amazon.com with a hardcover price of $26 and available on Kindle for $9.99.

Read more of the extensive interview with Rehder about her new book in next week's Business section of the Southeast Missourian.