My 3 Husbands Book Cast

Shelley Crawford

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Kids & Family

The book, and the conversation the book couldn't have. Three husbands. One died by his own gun. One turned out not to be who he said he was. One left her for a man – and stayed family. Each episode, Shelley Anne Crawford reads a chapter of her memoir in the voice of the woman who lived it, then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. Four decades, and the long work of surviving them.

2h ago

Chapter 10: Smoke at the Gate

Three months before her flight home, Shelley Anne Crawford had found a family that wanted nothing from her but the chance to heal. On this episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 10, "Smoke at the Gate," and then joins her editor to talk it through. Moved two states away after the night she left her first host family, Shelley is welcomed into the New York home of Juliet and Ed Wiseman. There is honey cake on Fridays, chess in the evenings and long hours at the piano, and slowly the nightmares ease. Then, in June, at the gate at JFK with her suitcase tagged for home, she sees her former teacher standing behind her host father, a brown folder of letters held to his chest. Juliet calls for security, and Shelley is led down a side stairwell to the back of the plane, the folder left unopened. Shelley and her editor talk about Juliet, the mother she always wanted and still calls Mom forty years on, and how she and Ed went on to parent her for the rest of her life. Shelley shares that she still does not know how her teacher learned which flight she was on, how a crowd pressing in like cotton captures the shock she went into, and why Juliet's words at the foot of the stairs have guided her ever since. Listen through to hear why Shelley turned for one last look before she climbed the stairs.Content Warning: This chapter touches on a teacher's abuse of a student, his unwanted return at an airport, and the fear and trauma that followed, which some listeners may find difficult. Please be gentle with yourself as you listen. If anything in this episode stirs up something painful for you or someone you love, you do not have to face it alone: Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123 Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): Call or text 988 Anywhere else: https://findahelpline.com Chapters: (00:04) - Shelley introduces Chapter 10, Smoke at the Gate (00:49) - A new home with Juliet and Ed (03:17) - Goodbyes at the gate at JFK (04:00) - A face behind her host father (05:18) - Security, and a side stairwell to the plane (06:18) - The folder she never opened (07:08) - Juliet, the mother she always wanted (08:52) - How one man could cause so much chaos (10:18) - A time before airport security (11:19) - A crowd pressed around her like cotton (13:03) - Words to be guided by forever (14:14) - One last look back Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/ Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/ Website: https://www.jessglobal.org Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks for resilience and trust grow out of the life told in My 3 Husbands: A True Story. Find more of her work on her website and in her Substack, Between the Pieces.
Nov 3

Chapter 9: What Len Knew

At 17, Shelley Anne Crawford left her American host family before dawn, wrapped in a blanket, without the chance to say goodbye. This week on the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 9, "What Len Knew," and then talks it over with her editor. Her host father, Len, has found the letter she never finished and made a phone call of his own. That evening a car pulls into the drive, and Len sends Shelley to the bedroom to lock the door while he and her host mother, Ruth, face her teacher at the front door. By midnight the exchange organization in New York has decided she must leave, and by first light the only family she had in America is behind her in the fog. Months later, a letter from a friend tells her the teacher still lights a candle for her. Shelley and her editor talk about Ruth, who ran the household and earned her teaching degree alongside her eldest daughter, and why this quiet couple deserves its brief place in the book. Shelley shares that she never contacted them again, why she believes this night led her to marry Jason, and the national director who judged that sending her home would harm her more than letting her finish the year. Listen through to hear the three words Shelley says sum up resilience, and the quality she has come to add to them. Content Warning:This chapter includes a teacher's abuse of a student, a frightening confrontation at a family home, and its emotional aftermath, which some listeners may find upsetting. Please look after yourself as you listen. If this episode brings up something hard for you or someone close to you, help is there:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): Call or text 988Anywhere else: https://findahelpline.com Chapters: (00:04) - Shelley introduces Chapter 9, What Len Knew (00:33) - Her host father learns the secret (02:11) - A car pulls into the driveway after dark (04:58) - Len and Ruth ask how they let it happen (05:46) - A call from New York, and a departure before dawn (07:06) - A letter from a friend, and a candle (07:29) - Ruth, the mama bear of the house (09:21) - A brief window into a quiet family (11:50) - Why this night belongs in a book about husbands (13:11) - The director who chose not to send her home (15:29) - Perseverance, adaptation and authenticity (16:34) - Resilience is also about kindness Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/ Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/ Website: https://www.jessglobal.org My 3 Husbands: A True Story is the memoir that grounds Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks for resilience and trust. Her website and her Substack, Between the Pieces, carry her latest work.
Oct 27

Chapter 8: The Code on the Board

At 17, Shelley Anne Crawford found a message on the classroom board meant only for her, and learned how quickly something that looks like romance can turn. In this episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 8, "The Code on the Board," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. Her psychology teacher promises her a secret message, and the next morning a string of numbers in the corner of the board says what no one else can see. Soon after, he follows her into the kit room, and her no does not stop him. When she goes to end it, he begs her to run away with him to Florida, then threatens to take his own life. She starts a letter ending it and never finishes it, until her host father is waiting in the driveway with a question. Shelley and her editor talk about how a gesture any romance film would call touching left her feeling sick, the moment she knew her world would fall apart, and what got her out: the same small girl who once threw stones back at the boys stoning her brother. Shelley explains why, with no other normal to measure by, her own felt ordinary. Tune in to hear why Shelley says young people today know something about risk that she did not. Content Warning:This chapter includes a teacher's abuse of a student, a frightening confrontation at a family home, and its emotional aftermath, which some listeners may find upsetting. Please look after yourself as you listen. If this episode brings up something hard for you or someone close to you, help is there:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US): Call or text 988Anywhere else: https://findahelpline.com Chapters: (00:00) - Welcome (00:20) - Chapter 8: The Code on the Board (11:05) - When romance turns (14:02) - The moment everything changed (16:28) - The way out (17:26) - A different normal (19:28) - Where the line is Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/Website: www.jessglobal.orgMy 3 Husbands: A True Story is the memoir behind Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks on resilience and trust. Visit her website or subscribe to Between the Pieces to follow her work.
Oct 20

Chapter 7: The Gift and the Gut

At 17, far from home and longing to be seen, Shelley Anne Crawford was given a gift that asked more of her than she understood. In this episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 7, "The Gift and the Gut," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. Her psychology teacher is kind at first, and curious about her mind. Then a ring and a letter appear in her locker. Shelley knows she should tell someone, and tells no one. One snowy Saturday, a drive alone with him through the woods turns off the road, and she comes home to a warm kitchen and tells her host mother only that the roads were icy. Shelley and her editor talk about why she wrote him so likable, how grooming works on loneliness and a mature mind, and how a young girl can sense that something is wrong and still go along. Shelley explains why she believed that telling would have sent her home in disgrace while he carried on as before. Tune in to hear why Shelley says this chapter is not only about her. Content Warning: This episode discusses grooming, the abuse of a student by a teacher, and other sensitive topics that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling: Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123 Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chapters: (00:04) - Shelley Anne Crawford reads Chapter 7: The Gift and the Gut (00:38) - Her psychology teacher, and a host mother's warning (02:14) - A letter and a ring in her locker (03:14) - The walk to his office (06:36) - That night, and telling no one (06:59) - A snowy drive into the woods (10:04) - Kent asks why she wrote him so likable (12:04) - The host mother, and how a child reads a warning (14:36) - Grooming, and knowing it while it happens (17:17) - Why this chapter is not only about her (19:20) - The need to be perfect, and what telling would have cost Connect with Shelley: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/ Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/ Website: www.jessglobal.org My 3 Husbands: A True Story is the memoir behind Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks on resilience and trust. Visit her website or subscribe to Between the Pieces to follow her work.
Oct 13

Chapter 6: America Unplugged

At 17, Shelley Anne Crawford boarded a plane for a scholarship year in America, under a rule that she could not call home for three months. Chapter 6 of her memoir My 3 Husbands: A True Story follows what that silence did to the relationship she left behind. In this episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 6, "America Unplugged," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. At the departure gate her mother's eyes were red, and Jason held on as if he could keep her there by will alone. She kissed him goodbye with more guilt than grief. When she was finally allowed to phone him, she heard his mother in the background before she heard him, asking "Is that Carol?" It was not her name. Shelley did not call again. Her editor calls it a small bridge of a chapter, one that maps distance. Shelley talks about the shy girl at the gate, detached among crying families, and a world before cell phones where a call home cost a fortune and came once every few months. Her point is simple: if you are ever going to be vulnerable, distance is what makes you so. Looking back, she believes Jason's mother knew exactly who was on the line. Tune in to hear why, when Shelley writes that she had let him go, her editor suspects the reader is not quite convinced. Chapters:🧳 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford leaves for America with more guilt than grief 🔕 01:23 Three months without contact, then another woman's name on the line 🎭 03:18 Doing everything right and still not being fully known ✈️ 04:17 The shy girl at the departure gate is still in her today 🌍 07:00 Before cell phones, distance is what made a 17-year-old vulnerable 🕰️ 10:12 Looking back, she believes Jason's mother knew who was calling 🪶 10:47 Letting him go, and why the reader is not convinced Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/ Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/ Website: www.jessglobal.org My 3 Husbands: A True Story is the memoir behind Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks on resilience and trust. Visit her website or subscribe to Between the Pieces to follow her work.
Oct 6

Chapter 5: Snake in the Grass

In Chapter 5 of her memoir My 3 Husbands, Shelley Anne Crawford is 17 and swept up in a whirlwind romance when she meets the mother who treats her like a rival. Shelley reads "Snake in the Grass," the chapter where Jason's charm comes with fancy dinners and late-night motorbike races. Then he brings her home late one night, and his mother, Miriam, appears completely naked and hugs him, barely acknowledging the girl standing behind him. Shelley's own mother says very little when she hears about it. But she is relieved her daughter is leaving soon for a year abroad. Afterward, Shelley sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. She explains the chapter's subtitle, Some people are true, others only wear the skin of it, and why learning to see that difference and choose the authentic person became one of the resilience builders in her books. He points out that the chapter holds more than one mother. Miriam is sweet on the surface and sinister underneath, while Shelley's own mother, not always the best character in the book, does the mothering beautifully here. Tune in to hear Shelley read the chapter in her own voice, and her editor's take on how writing a book can turn a difficult past into something beautiful. Content Warning:This episode discusses suicide, self-harm, and other sensitive topics that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chapters:📖 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford reads Snake in the Grass: a dazzling whirlwind with Jason 🐍 01:26 Meeting Miriam, the mother who looked at Shelley like a rival 🌍 02:50 A mother's quiet worry and a year abroad 🚩 03:30 The warning sign Shelley couldn't see at 17 🎬 06:21 A mother character readers rarely meet in books or films 🎭 08:39 Some people are true, others only wear the skin of it 👩‍👧 09:35 Three mothers in one chapter, including the one who wrote it✨ 11:51 How writing a book can make a difficult past beautiful Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026Substack: shelleyannecrawford.substack.comWebsite: www.jessglobal.org My 3 Husbands: A True Story is the memoir behind Shelley Anne Crawford's Jess© and PACT© frameworks on resilience and trust. Visit her website or subscribe to Between the Pieces to follow her work.
Sep 29

Chapter 4: The Glitter Before the Crack

At 17, Shelley Anne Crawford ignored the first red flag from the charming man she would later marry. Chapter 4 of her memoir, My Three Husbands: A True Story, is where her intuition spoke up and she chose not to listen. In this episode of My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 4, The Glitter Before the Crack, then sits down with her editor to talk about the girl on the page. She was already dating Martin, her first love, when Jason walked into the store where she worked and told her to break up with him. One stood-up weekend and a long bus ride home settled it. Days later she climbed into Jason's VW Kombi, and when he called her baby, she shot back, "I'm not your baby." Within two weeks came the ultimatum: "It's him or me." Shelley and her editor talk about how childhood trauma can damage a young woman's intuition, and why hearing that inner voice is not the same as believing it. Shelley traces her "I'm not your baby" fire to the part of her that has helped her thrive, and names the irony underneath it: "he actually did end up owning me." Tune in to hear the first decision in a chain that runs through the rest of the book. Content Warning:This episode discusses suicide, self-harm, and other sensitive topics that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chapters:📖 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford reads Chapter 4: Jason asks her out at 17 🚌 02:39 The bus ride home where she let go of her first love 🚐 05:15 A first date in Jason's VW Kombi: "I'm not your baby" ⚖️ 06:46 "It's him or me": the ultimatum and the choice she second-guessed 🧩 08:17 The first conscious decision and the domino effect it started 🧭 10:21 How childhood trauma mars intuition and what it takes to rebuild it 🔥 12:05 The warrior part of her that refuses to be owned 🌱 15:08 Mentoring her daughters and young women to own who they are 🎻 17:36 "I'm not playing second fiddle" and the first sign of Jason's control Connect with Shelley: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026 Substack: shelleyannecrawford.substack.com Website: www.jessglobal.org Reach out to Shelley to continue the conversation about learning to hear and trust your intuition, the thread she carries through this memoir and her other books.
Sep 22

Chapter 3: The Edge of the Fireline

Shelley Anne Crawford grew up on a South African farm where the map ran out. In Chapter 3 of her memoir My 3 Husbands: A True Story, she goes back to the childhood that taught her to read a silence. In this third episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 3, "The Edge of the Fireline," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. The farm sat in the dry hills outside the Valley of a Thousand Hills. At six she was left in charge of her grandmother, who waved her off with a cigarette and a drink four evenings running, then told Shelley's mother that Shelley had not fed her. Her brother Peter was six years older and born on the same day, with the body of a man and the mind of a child. When the local boys threw stones at him, she threw them back. Because the real world did not protect her, she built another one. By seven she had a riding school with no horses and no clients, a clearing for a paddock and lesson plans she kept in her head. When things came too close she became a librarian instead, lining her dolls up in neat rows and stamping imaginary books. She tells us she still uses both, in her head and out with her horses. Her editor tells her this short chapter lays the canvas for the whole book. Tune in to hear why a childhood that reads as extraordinary now felt normal at the time, and why he calls the last line one of the best cliffhangers he has read. Content Warning: This episode contains references to death, bodies, and hanging, which some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chapters:📖 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford introduces chapter three, and a note before listening 🔥 01:20 Learning at four to notice the stillness before danger 🪨 02:09 Peter, born on the same day, and the stones she threw back 🍽️ 03:07 Six years old, in charge of a grandmother who would not eat 🐎 04:45 A riding school with no horses and a library in her head 🖋️ 06:39 Roy Campbell's The Zulu Girl, and why all of it felt normal 💡 10:16 Where her resilience work actually started, and why she still uses it 🎨 14:19 A short chapter that lays the canvas for the whole book 🪝 15:59 The cliffhanger she did not know she was writing Links Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026 Substack: shelleyannecrawford.substack.com Website: www.jessglobal.org
Sep 15

Chapter 2: The Crack in the Glass

In this second episode of the My 3 Husbands Book Cast, Shelley reads Chapter 2, "The Crack in the Glass," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. She opens by saying that what follows is not a record. The names are pseudonyms and the scene is her reconstruction, built from what she knew of him and what others pieced together. A wooden panel pulled off a bathroom wall, nothing behind it. His life savings gone, the money meant to get him from South Africa to his children in London. He collects his guns and drives to a coffee shop, where a fourteen-year-old girl steps between the barrel and her mother. Her editor starts at the end, at the koppie above the sea where he was found. That spot, Shelley says, is the only part of the chapter she knows to be true. She has stood there. They talk about the line "the whole sky coming down," and what sits against it, the pistol he once taught her to strip and rebuild in the dark until she could do it without looking. Money was how he controlled her, and someone had just taken his. Tune in to hear why Shelley put a child in that scene, and what her editor says about the power a fourteen-year-old had, whether she knew it or not. Content Warning:This episode discusses suicide, self-harm, and other sensitive topics that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chatpers:✍️ 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford on why this chapter is imagination, not a record 🧱 01:16 The money gone from behind the wall, and what it was for 💔 05:33 The birthday call three weeks before, and the woman he had ruined 🪟 06:41 A barrel on the kitchen glass, and the fourteen-year-old who stepped in ⛰️ 09:12 The koppie above the sea, the only part she knows is true ☁️ 11:56 The whole sky coming down, and the intimacy of the next line 🪙 15:51 Money was the mechanism of control, and then somebody took his 🧒 19:29 Why a child was the only thing that could lower the gun Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/Website: www.jessglobal.org
Sep 8

Chapter 1: Tied Together

Sudden loss splits a life into a before and an after. Shelley Anne Crawford's memoir My 3 Husbands: A True Story opens on the Monday afternoon the phone rang twice. In this first episode of the My 3 Husbands Audiobook Podcast, Shelley reads Chapter 1, "Tied Together," and then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. The chapter finds her in the art room of her country house in Ireland, children painting around her, cookies cooling in the kitchen. She had built that life out of the wreckage of an earlier one, in a village far enough away that it felt like a place no pain could reach. The phone rings and she lets it go. She never answers on the first go. A minute later it rings again, and it is her daughter Jessica, calling from London. Her editor reads the chapter back to her through its senses, the ringing, the silence, the sound of the ocean in her ears though she lives miles from the sea. Shelley talks about the tsunami dreams she has had for years, and about why the only word she could reach for was "gone." Then she says something harder. There were times she had wished he would go missing, or get hurt. Tune in to hear why Shelley believes there is beauty even here, and why, as she puts it, it is not like someone dies and then everything goes black. Content Warning:This episode discusses suicide, self-harm, and other sensitive topics that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening. If you or someone you know is struggling:Samaritans (UK & Ireland): Call 116 123Pieta (Ireland): Call 1800 247 247 Chapters:📖 00:04 Shelley Anne Crawford introduces the memoir and a note before listening 🖌️ 00:50 The art room in Ireland, and a life rebuilt out of wreckage 📞 01:52 The phone rings twice, and the only word left is gone 🐚 03:04 The ocean in her ears, and years of tsunami dreams 🤲 06:49 The smell of oil paint, and the forgiveness running through the book 🪞 11:19 Admitting she once wished he would go missing, or get hurt 🌅 13:00 Why everything does not go black when someone dies Connect with Shelley:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleyannecrawford2026/Substack: https://shelleyannecrawford.substack.com/Website: www.jessglobal.org

10 Episodes

The book, and the conversation the book couldn't have. Three husbands. One died by his own gun. One turned out not to be who he said he was. One left her for a man – and stayed family. Each episode, Shelley Anne Crawford reads a chapter of her memoir in the voice of the woman who lived it, then sits down with her editor to talk about what she just read. Four decades, and the long work of surviving them.

Creator

Shelley Crawford
Years Active

2026
Episodes

10
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2026 Shelley Crawford