Yale stabbing survivor Mara McCalmon releases 'The Sound of Safety' book on Oct. 14

Mara McCalmon, who survived more than 25 knife wounds in a 2010 attack in Yale that killed her husband, Paul Skinner, has written a book about the assault and the 16 years that followed. "The Sound of Safety: When all that’s left is love & hope & truth," co-authored with journalist Phoebe Wall Howard, releases Oct. 14, 2026.

McCalmon, 60, said she spent years reviewing court transcripts, post-trial testimony, her journals, medical records, crime scene photos and letters from jurors before writing the 180-page book. In an excerpt, she wrote that after 16 years, she finally felt it was time to tell the story herself.

The attack took place early Nov. 12, 2010, in the couple's home in Yale, a small town outside Port Huron. McCalmon said she woke in a dark bedroom to an intruder repeatedly stabbing her in the head, back and hands. A second person attacked Skinner, who died from multiple stab wounds.

McCalmon recalled fighting back with her bare hands and feeling no pain. Covered in blood, she heard the family's Great Dane, Kenya, barking loudly and trying to reach her. She later learned that her adopted daughter, Tia, then 17, was holding the dog in the basement while Tia's boyfriend, Jonathan Kurtz, and their friend, James Preston, both 18, carried out the attack.

According to the account in the book, the plot was planned during a church youth group meeting. Tia left her bedroom window open and placed knives on her bed, while the attackers were promised $500 each to buy video games. Tia, Kurtz and Preston are serving life sentences in prison.

Before the book, McCalmon was a public school teacher. After the attack, she spent nearly a year recovering from her physical injuries and began intensive talk therapy. She wrote down racing thoughts on notepads, napkins and scraps of paper, ran sprint triathlons, tried returning home and fought suicidal thoughts.

McCalmon also began a nonprofit in Skinner's memory and started speaking about trauma and recovery. In her prologue, she described standing before a room of about 200 trauma experts and members of the public who wanted to hear what it was like to survive such a loss and keep living.

The book includes texts between Tia and the attackers, a 2011 letter from Tia sent after sentencing, and detailed descriptions of the attack. McCalmon said the story is about more than the crime.

"The book is about me, but honestly, it's about a family and betrayal," she said in an interview on Sept. 15 in Port Huron.