My book *Free! From the Teenage Mum Slump to Living My Own Life*

An autobiographical memoir and a book of encouragement

Brief description: A pregnancy test in a station toilet turns my life upside down. At 17, I find out I’m pregnant. Right in the middle of my school years, with no clear prospects. Suddenly, I’m faced with a responsibility for which there’s no instruction manual. I’m in a relationship, but instead of finding support, I find myself in a downward spiral.

I grew up in a village in Tyrol, where dreams are often shattered by traditions and expectations. Giving up was never an option for me. I decided to keep my child – and to fight. Between the nappy-changing table and economics lessons, the breast pump and my A-levels, hospital corridors and classrooms, it wasn’t just my child who was growing. A young woman was growing too, one who refused to get lost in the system.

I work in the evenings and at weekends serving Kitzbühel’s high society, whilst sitting my exams during the day. Caught between a loss of control and self-empowerment, I’m fighting my way towards a life that nobody would have thought possible. Along the way, I encounter not only financial hardship and prejudice, but also violence, toxic relationship dynamics and situations where our very survival is at stake.

At the same time, I talk about life with a child who, within the system, experiences more hardship than care. About a boy who is coming to terms with trauma, whilst school and society prioritise one thing above all else: achievement and conformity. In a system that rewards sitting still, punishes movement and ignores what a child with such a complex history really needs.

During this time, I realise how little space there is for single parents. How quickly prejudices arise. Some burdens are visible. Much remains hidden. In my mid-twenties, I set up my first business with my new partner and began to take responsibility for sums of money I wouldn’t even have dared to dream of before: a million-project without the millions.

This book tells my story: from the low point of being a teenage mum back to a life I shape myself. It shows how important values are within a family, in relationships and in one’s own life. And that the most important and valuable thing we can give a child is not achievement, status or perfect circumstances, but something that costs nothing and yet determines everything: unconditional love.

Who is this book for?

For women who just get on with things instead of really living: caught up between children, work, bills and relationships that hold them back rather than inspire them. For anyone who feels: “This isn’t how I imagined my life would be, and yet there must be more out there for me.” This book is for people who are in the same place I once was. My message behind it: “I was exactly where you are now. With fear, money worries, shame and the feeling that I’d got everything wrong. I’ve found a way. If I could do it, you can find yours.”

Cornelia DeFrancesco, born in Tyrol in 1989, lives in the mountains with her husband and two children. Together they run a diverse family business: the Bio Chalets Alpegg, the Talsenalm in Waidring, the Suite Spielberg in Fieberbrunn, Defrancesco Photography and the Demeter beekeeping business “Alpegg Honigmanufaktur”.

Free! Order now to break free from the ‘teenage mum’ slump and take control of your own life!

On this page, you can order my book directly and secure a copy – either for yourself or for someone who really needs to know right now: You’re not alone, and the life you want is possible!