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We wouldn’t consider letting Isis, Medusa, Pandora, or Persephone slip from our lexicon. To somehow forget the legend of Harriet Tubman, Anne Frank, or Mother Teresa would never cross our minds. And yet when it comes to the stories of Eve and other biblical characters, they are rarely known, barely appreciated, and ostensibly “lost” by most of us not deeply entwined within organized religion. Trapped in patriarchy and theological argument, dismissed as irrelevant, or viewed as unchangeable even as times change, these women’s voices, desires, and hearts have too often been silenced through misunderstanding and neglect. As result, we are as well. But when they are reimagined, deconstructed, disentangled from doctrine and dogma, and heard on their own terms, these stories become powerful inspiration and a source of discernment that reconnects us to a feminine lineage and a sovereign sense of self we’ve never known to call on or trust. In Rewriting Eve, Ronna Detrick invites us into the presence and power of ten sacred women, revealing the endlessly relevant ways in which they speak today and showing how they can heal, embolden, and transform our stories. Author: Ronna J. Detrick Pub Date: October 3, 2023 -
Social workers often reminisce about their first time “freezing”―the dreaded stillness from emotions so strong that they take the body hostage. Angela Lovelace is a well-trained social worker: she has been working for Child Protective Services in San Francisco for nearly five years and has never frozen, never had a sleepless night. But after she sees her father’s tattered picture on the apartment wall of a little boy whose addict mother just died, she must learn how to overcome the numbness―and sets out to uncover the truth. While Angela conducts her investigation, she finds her family and personal life spiraling down into brokenness; as she peels away layer after layer of secrets, her brother navigates the ravages of substance abuse, and her sister struggles with infertility. The Lovelace family must look to their faith in God and each other to discover their own resilience and put the pieces of their splintered lives back together again. Told from multiple perspectives across generations, Revelation explores how untreated mental illness and family secrets ricochet and can impact each and every family member―and the importance of perseverance, love, and hope. Author: Bobi Gentry Goodwin Publication Date: November 5, 2019 -
A mysterious hospital deep in the Oregon woods is sending marauding ambulances into the countryside, looking for new patients. Mowing down anything in their path, the deadly ambulance drivers have forced the people and animals of the land into hiding. Twelve-year-old Chloe Ashton has returned to Fairfax and is desperate to find her mother. Together with her friends—the magical cook Mrs. Goodweather, carpenter Brisco Knot, and clever white rat Shakespeare—she hatches a plan to enter the hospital and stop the bloodshed. At the same time a rumor reaches them from the east: Silas the Stargazer is coming, and he is bringing an army. An animal army. Author: Diane Rios Publication Date: June 4, 2019 -
Becky Galli was born into a family that valued the power of having a plan. With a pastor father and a stay-at-home mother, her 1960s southern upbringing was bucolic—even enviable. But when her brother, only seventeen, died in a waterskiing accident, the slow unraveling of her perfect family began. Though grief overwhelmed the family, twenty-year-old Galli forged forward with her plans for the future—marriage, career, and raising a family of her own—one she hoped would be as idyllic as the family she remembered from her childhood. But life instead presented her with situation after situation that derailed her: her son’s degenerative, undiagnosed disease and subsequent death; her daughter’s autism diagnosis; her separation; and then, nine days after the divorce was final, the onset of the transverse myelitis that would paralyze her from the waist down. Despite these life-changing losses, Galli’s steadfast commitment to family has enabled her family life, far different from the one she planned, to be filled with creative love and acceptance. At once heartbreaking and inspiring, Rethinking Possible is a story of the power of love over loss and the choice we all have to shape our life circumstances—even when we’re forced to confront the unimaginable. Author: Rebecca Faye Smith Galli Publication Date: June 13, 2017 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Social Change 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Other) “If you’ve ever felt despair about the state of the world or wondered, ‘What can I do?’ I recommend reading Renewable. Eileen Flanagan’s insightful memoir shows a deep understanding of complex global problems, while showing us how one person can change their life while working to change the world we all share.” —Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director Greenpeace International At age forty-nine, Eileen Flanagan had an aching feeling that she wasn’t living up to her potential—or her youthful ideals. Drowning in e-mail and stuff she didn’t need, the simple Peace Corps life of her twenties was a distant memory, and the African country where she’d taught was in crisis, struggling to adapt to global warming. Renewable: One Woman’s Search for Simplicity, Faithfulness, and Hope is the story of a spiritual writer and mother of two who returned alone to southern Africa to try to help change the world—and unexpectedly found the courage to change her life Author: Eileen Flanagan Publication Date: March 3, 2015 -
In this colorful memoir, Kimberly Childs quests for the love and home her glamorous, alcoholic mother is unable to provide. Jeanne Gibson is a mountain woman with unusual charisma—a real-life Holly GoLightly—who marries Broadway’s meanest producer, David Merrick, and proceeds to self-destruct. Bounced from place to place, Childs grows up in Lady Eden’s English boarding school, London’s prestigious Savoy Hotel, a Kentucky farm with an outhouse, a Manhattan private girls’ school, and amidst Broadway’s theaters. Seeking connection on the streets and in the communes of 1960s San Francisco, Childs discovers serenity through meditation. Aspiring for transformation, she finds home in an Indian Guru’s ashram—then realizes she must trust her own instincts and courageously walks away. A touching story of compassion and forgiveness, Remember Me As Loving You is a compelling read that will be an inspiration to anyone who has found themselves derailed by life’s blows. Author: Kimberly Child Publication Date: September 19, 2017 -
A raw, often wry, memoir of mothers, mysteries, and miracles. Surrendered at birth in a closed adoption, Candi Byrne’s biology and ethnicity is a secret. The impending arrival of her first grandchild ignites an urgency to identify potential genetic time bombs and confirm her ancestry. Due to arcane privacy laws, Candi is repeatedly denied access to the one person who could provide that information—her biological mother. After years of failed attempts, she resigns herself to never learning the truth about her roots; that is, until her ninety-year-old Aunt Delores has a vision and insists Candi resume efforts to find her birth family. Candi is gobsmacked when an internet search she’s performed thousands of times before suddenly reveals her birth mother’s identity. Within hours, she ends up on the doorstep of her birth mother—a place she’s sworn never to visit. After a series of guilt-driven interactions with “Those People,” as she refers to her maternal birth family, Candi terminates contact. Although the reunion proves disastrous, it opens her eyes to truths about her relationship with her adoptive mother, Delphine. Though their relationship was difficult and contentious during Delphine’s life, a series of miraculous experiences after her death guides Candi home to herself—where, she learns, she has belonged all along. Author: Candi Byrne Publication Date: November 1, 2022 -
Set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement, Redlined exposes the racist lending rules that refuse mortgages to anyone in areas with even one black resident. As blacks move deeper into Chicago’s West Side during the 1960s, whites flee by the thousands. But Linda Gartz’s parents, Fred and Lil, choose to stay in their integrating neighborhood, overcoming previous prejudices as they meet and form friendships with their African American neighbors. The community sinks into increasing poverty and crime after two race riots destroy its once vibrant business district, but Fred and Lil continue to nurture their three apartment buildings and tenants for the next twenty years in a devastated landscape—even as their own relationship cracks and withers. After her parents’ deaths, Gartz discovers long-hidden letters, diaries, documents, and photos stashed in the attic of her former home. Determined to learn what forces shattered her parents’ marriage and undermined her community, she searches through the family archives and immerses herself in books on racial change in American neighborhoods. Told through the lens of Gartz’s discoveries of the personal and political, Redlined delivers a riveting story of a community fractured by racial turmoil, an unraveling and conflicted marriage, a daughter’s fight for sexual independence, and an up-close, intimate view of the racial and social upheavals of the 1960s. Author: Linda Gartz Publication Date: April 3, 2018 -
Penny is just four years old when she is snatched away from her all-American home by the Hungarian father who abandoned her when she was a baby. After facing isolation and neglect in a strange, dysfunctional household where heartache, rejection, and physical abuse rule her life, she escapes—only to find herself in a relationship with a man who’s just converted to fundamentalist Christianity. Penny’s road is long, winding, and often painful, but gradually she begins to listen to her inner voice, stand up for herself, and refuse to bow to the pressures of either her family or society—freeing herself to build a life on her own terms and find her way to happiness. A rise-from-the-ashes hero’s story of overcoming abuse, trauma, and unbearable odds, of being waylaid by both family and religion’s promise of love, and harnessing the resilience to find the way home, Redeemed offers a rare window into Eastern European immigrant culture and reads like a page-turning thriller. Especially relevant today—a time when marginalized people are increasingly finding a voice—this memoir will serve as an inspiration to women everywhere, encouraging them to overcome their obstacles and go after their dreams. Author: Penny Lane Publication Date: June 25, 2024 -
“A master of figurative language, Lam deftly describes her life in a multicultural family and the pressures they face from both their Chinese and American societies. Readers will enjoy the transformation of each dynamic member of the family and find themselves rooting for the protagonist again and again. This book celebrates the power of resilience and a young girl’s determination to chase her dreams. Lam left me wanting more.” —Amanda Zieba, author of Breaking the Surface and the Orphan Train Rider Series In China, girls are bad luck and are often drowned. But Angela and her sisters are lucky. They are born in America and allowed to live two lives in one world: eating dim sum and praying the rosary; studying hard at school and playing make believe with their dolls. With a Chinese father who loves consumerism and an American mother determined to give her daughters the opportunities she was denied, Angela and her sisters grow up celebrating both their Chinese heritage and their American culture. But when their father suddenly becomes ill, Angela begins to question the limits of luck and the power of prayer—and to wonder whether she will ever find the courage to be herself. Author: Angela Lam Publication Date: October 6, 2016 -
Meg thought giving up alcohol would lead her to a life of comfort, wisdom, and happiness. Years later, she still hasn’t gotten there. What is it that she’s missing?
When her father—a raging alcoholic himself—dies, Meg, an only child, has to fly to California from her home in New Zealand to clean up the mess that was his life. Once done, left with her father’s car and a few thousand dollars, she decides to take some time for herself—embark on a solo trip across the US that she dubs her Recovery Road Trip.
She has no idea that this one decision will change her world forever.
As Meg travels from state to state, making new friends and having meaningful encounters with strangers, she discovers the person she buried long ago, as well as the freedom and creativity she once found elusive—and finally begins to feel that sense of serenity and joy she’s been seeking. Part recovery journal, part travel log, and part woman’s search for self, Recovery Road Trip takes readers on an odyssey across America and into a recovering women’s exploration for meaning.
Author: Patti Clark Publication date: October 1, 2024 -
When Barbara Terao moves into a new home in Washington, two thousand miles from her husband in Illinois, she doesn’t know when—or if—she’ll ever live with him again. Her diagnosis of breast cancer three months later changes both of them in ways they never imagined. In the ensuing months, Barbara’s husband and adult children show up to help her through a year of difficult treatments and surgery, and Barbara, in her Whidbey Island cottage, learns to listen to her heart and intuition. Nurtured by Douglas fir forests, the Salish Sea, and her community, she changes her life from the inside out. Her journey, she realizes, wasn’t about leaving her husband so much as finding herself. Reconfigured in body, mind, and spirit, Barbara finally has words for what she wants to say—and the strength to be a survivor. Pub Date: July 18, 2023 Author: Barbara Wolf Terao -
Reclaiming Home is the diary of Lesego Malepe’s travels in South Africa in 2004, the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy. The book begins with Malepe taking the bus from Pretoria, where she grew up, to Cape Town, where she visits Robben Island—the prison where her brother served a life sentence during apartheid days. She interrupts her travels to return to Pretoria, where she attends the ceremony marking the official settlement of land claims for her parents’ property and her grandmother’s property in Kilnerton, Pretoria, which were confiscated by the apartheid government when Malepe was four, forcing her family—along with the rest of their community—to move to Mamelodi township for Africans. Over the course of her travels, Malepe traverses much of her home country, visiting locales including Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Thohoyandou, the University of Venda, and Giyani. Ultimately, hers is a sprawling, revealing journey that illuminates the ways South Africa has changed—and the ways it has remained the same—since the end of apartheid. Author: Lesego Malepe Publication Date: May 1, 2018 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Cookbooks: International 2016 Best book Award Finalist in Cookbooks: International Recipes for Redemption: A Companion Cookbook for A Cup of Redemption provides the promised recipes—both French and American—culled from the pages, the times, and the regional influences found in the historical novel A Cup of Redemption. Told through the voices of the three main characters—Marcelle, Sophie and Kate—the recipes are carefully taught in the way these women learned them: at the knees of their mothers or grandmothers. Whether “cuisine pauvre” (peasant cooking), “war food” from WWII, American fare, or simply a family favorite, each recipe is carefully described and footnoted with interesting, often amusing culinary notes. Flavored with witty repartee and slathered with common sense, this cookbook is filled with heart, soul, humor, and delectable delight. Author: Carole Bumpus Publication Date: August 18, 2015 -
Janet Duffy, a spunky, seventeen-year-old Irish girl, is eager to start college—but instability between her alcoholic father and self-absorbed mother jeopardize her dream, so she sets up her own apartment with her younger sister in Jamaica, Queens, and treks to City College in Manhattan, New York. The routine is deadening, but she finds purpose in the black community, working for a mural painter and volunteering for a civil rights activist. After turning eighteen, Janet marches with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and falls for a young black saxophone player, Carmen. Her father, a policeman, explodes over their relationship, so Janet rebels—runs away with the jazz musician, and then winds up in the East Village in the Summer of Love. In the ensuing months she deals with heartbreak, sexual harassment, poverty, and danger—but eventually, she asks for the help she needs in order to pick up the pieces of her life and return to her dream. Publication Date: July 27, 2021 Author: Janet Luongo -
This book continues the story of Rebecca from Walter Scott’s 1820 novel Ivanhoe. The Ivanhoe backstory: Jewish women in medieval England do not fall in love with Christian knights like Ivanhoe. Neither do they heal knights from battle wounds. But Rebecca does both—and nearly pays with her life. Rescued by Ivanhoe from being burnt at the stake as a sorceress, she flees from England and the man she loves. Rebecca of Salerno: In Salerno, Kingdom of Sicily, Rebecca pursues her dreams by attending medical school. Practicing her profession, she defies family pressure to marry Rafael, the man who loves her. But more pressing is the conquest of Sicily by the Hohenstaufens and the arrival of rogue crusaders, both of which threaten Salerno’s long-standing atmosphere of tolerance. When a rabbi is falsely accused of murdering a crusader, Rebecca and Rafael commit to pursuing justice and protecting the Jewish community. This story provides fascinating history, as of the medical school in Salerno, where women and men—Christians, Muslims, and Jews—studied together. It also exemplifies the recurring Jewish experience of persecution, search for refuge, and resilience to remake lives. Rebecca struggles to balance community expectations and traditions with her desire for fulfillment—one of the great challenges facing women throughout the ages. Author: Esther Erman Publication Date: August 2, 2022 -
When Sally learns that her twenty-one-year-old son Christopher died tragically in a boat accident, her greatest fear is realized. Christopher was often drawn to risk and struggled with addiction, and in this riveting memoir, Sally captures the wild ride of his jam-packed life and her deep love for him while also reflecting on her own childhood and family legacy of alcoholism. This book is for any parent raising a child from the edge of their seat, or for those suffering the trauma of losing a child. Sally shares insights about what it’s like to experience the emotional aftershocks of acute grief, and readers may see themselves in Sally’s bittersweet illusion of trying to keep Christopher safe; in how she is challenged to let go of her fear, guilt, and regret in order to forgive herself; and in the ways grief teaches her about the power of love. Reaching for Beautiful is a luminous story of how love triumphs over pain, love transcends fear, and love never dies. Author: Sally McQuillen Publication Date: April 1, 2025 -
"In her brave and transparent book, Bella Mahaya Carter reveals how she took her healing into her own hands, overcoming obstacles we can all relate to: fear, shame, worth. Her story will inspire readers to allow themselves to be seen while bringing their gifts and voices to the world." —Nancy Levin, bestselling author of Worthy “Bella gracefully limns the tale of how a raw food diet launched her into understanding and coming to terms with anxiety; in a world awash with foodbased memoirs, this is juicy, fresh fruit.” —Lisa Kotin, author of My ConfectionRaw is the story of one woman’s quest for health and happiness, which dragged her kicking and screaming into spiritual adulthood. Anxiety and a desire to heal it holistically—even before she knew what it was—is at the heart of this story, which reveals Carter’s struggles to face her fears, release perfectionism, surrender things beyond her control, and find validation within for her life and work. The book is divided into three sections—body, mind, and spirit—and it begins with Carter’s efforts to holistically cure chronic stomach problems. Toward that end, she adopted a 100 percent raw, vegan diet, which eased her symptoms and produced impressive, unexpected perks, but didn’t completely heal her. She then looked to her mind for answers and discovered that unconscious negative thoughts combined with a stressful, hectic-paced life sabotaged her well-being. Finally, a few mystical experiences brought her “home” to a visceral understanding of who she really is. Author: Bella Mahaya Carter Publication Date: May 22, 2018 -
A PopSugar Best New Books of 2021 Selection Weed inspires her. Acid shows her another dimension. Ecstasy releases her. Nitrous fills her with bliss. Cocaine makes her fabulous. Mushrooms make everything magical. Special K numbs her. Crystal meth makes her mean. Sixteen-year-old Samantha, raver extraordinaire, puts the “high” in high school. A ’90s time capsule buried inside a coming-of-age memoir set against the neon backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area's rave scene, Raver Girl chronicles Samantha’s double life as she teeters between hedonism and sobriety, chaos and calm, all while sneaking under the radar of her entrepreneur father—a man who happened to drop acid with LSD impresario Owsley Stanley in the ’60s. Samantha keeps a list of every rave she goes to—a total of 104 over four years. During that time, what started as trippy fun morphs into a self-destructive roller coaster ride. Samantha opens the doors of her mind, but she's left with traumas her acid-fried brain won't let her escape; and when meth becomes her drug of choice, things get progressively darker. Through euphoric highs and dangerous lows, Samantha discovers she’s someone who lives life to the fullest and learns best through alternative experience rather than mainstream ideals. She’s a creative whose mind is limitless, whose quirks are charms, whose passion is inspirational. She’s an independent woman whose inner strength is rooted in unwavering family ties. And if she can survive high school, she just might be okay. Author: Samantha Durbin Publication Date: October 12, 2021 -
“[Boucher] demonstrates that alcoholism is a disease that doesn’t discriminate by income level, education, or gender. Contrary to the thinking that women have to lose it all before making changes, she hopes that, by reading her book, women can recognize and deal with their potential alcoholism early on. Highly recommended.” ―Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW) Do you worry that your drinking may have unintended consequences to your health, your family, your relationships, your profession? We live in a boozy culture, and the idea of women and wine going hand in hand has become entrenched. Is your book club really a “wine club”? Do you drink to “cope” with anxiety, parenthood, the pressures of being a mom, a wife, a professional? In Raising the Bottom, mothers, daughters, health professionals, and young women share their stories of why they drank, how they stopped, and the joys and rewards of being present in their lives once they kicked alcohol to the curb. In these pages, women share their drinking stories of hitting emotional bottoms —so you don’t ever have to. Author: Lisa Boucher Publication Date: June 20, 2017 -
“A gut-wrenching, cleareyed coming-of-age memoir…clean writing well serves this account of a child’s abuse and survival.” —Kirkus Reviews No one could have imagined how as a child Beverly Engel could have managed to become who she is today—an internationally known expert on abuse recovery and the best-selling author of twenty-two self-help books. This is the raw, candid story of how she made her way in the world in spite of her mother’s neglect, unreasonable expectations and constant criticism; in spite of being sexually abused, first at four years old and then at nine; and in spite of being raped at twelve. Raising Myself takes readers on a remarkable journey, showing us how Engel, who was basically on her own from the age of four, learned how to cope with a neglectful, narcissistic mother while being surrounded by a cast of characters that included eccentrics and misfits, a religious fanatic, child molesters, rapists, and hoodlums. It is a soul-searching memoir about how she came dangerously close to the edge of becoming a child molester, a criminal, and a suicide, and how she battled her inner demons and struggled to keep her heart open and to “reinvent” herself so she could follow her dream of making something of herself. Powerfully inspiring and unflinchingly honest, Raising Myself is a story of remarkable resilience and insight. Author: Beverly Engel Publication Date: April 3, 2018 -
Scholar Susan Godwin is hooked when she comes across the captivating story of Mary of Modena—a seventeenth-century Italian princess who was only fourteen when coerced into marriage with the future king of England, James II, yet went on to cultivate a court full of women writers in an age when female authorship was rare. How did Mary achieve such a feat? Rain Dodging is Susan’s creative nonfiction account of the years-long search upon which this question—and her own unquenchable curiosity—launched her. Godwin travels through both space and time, solo adventuring through Britain in pursuit of truth and, in a spicy parallel arc, chronicling her own cluttered but resilient feminist path. From schizophrenic lovers to out-there musicians to one unhinged mother, Susan tells the story of her personal enlightenment even as she visits the palaces and manor houses in England and Scotland Mary once inhabited and pores over materials in Oxford’s stunning 400-year-old Bodleian Library, finding moments of transcendence and unexpected delight along the way. Join Susan in this irreverent and illuminating journey—a fascinating account of the late Stuart monarchy, the progression of feminist history, and the unexpected connection between the two. Author: Susan J. Godwin Pub Date: October 17, 2023 -
In present-day Los Angeles, Caroline Martin has everything but the thing her soul craves most: a daughter. When she undergoes what is supposed to be a routine hysterectomy, she unwittingly aborts the little girl she’s always longed for, leaving the unborn baby’s soul in limbo. Sharing a hospital room with Caroline is a pregnant woman who’s just been shot by her boyfriend. Her unborn child is barely hanging on—and the soul of Caroline’s hovering baby cannot resist the overwhelming urge to rebirth via this unclaimed fetus. In the aftermath of these events, two engaging heavenly guides, working together through sensitive humans, struggle to find an alternate way to help Caroline and her would-be daughter forge the link that was always meant to be between them—before the child’s brutal father makes good on his vow to steal the girl and disappear with her forever. By turns comic and tragic, Rachael’s Return explores the concept of soul mates, the afterlife, reincarnation, and relationships that never die, even as it offers readers a glimpse of the mysteries that exist within the ordinary and challenges assumptions about the true nature of reality. Author: Janet Rebhan Publication Date: June 16, 2020 -
Quest for Eternal Sunshine chronicles the triumphant, true story of Mendek Rubin, a brilliant inventor who overcame both the trauma of the Holocaust and decades of unrelenting depression to live a life of deep peace and boundless joy. Born into a Hassidic Jewish family in Poland in 1924, Mendek grew up surrounded by extreme anti-Semitism. Armed with an ingenious mind, he survived three horrific years in Nazi slave-labor concentration camps while virtually his entire family was murdered in Auschwitz. After arriving in America in 1946—despite having no money or professional skills—his inventions helped revolutionize both the jewelry and packaged-salad industries. Remarkably, Mendek also applied his ingenuity to his own psyche, developing innovative ways to heal his heart and end his emotional suffering. After Mendek died in 2012, his daughter, Myra Goodman, found an unfinished manuscript in which he’d revealed the intimate details of his healing journey. Quest for Eternal Sunshine—the extraordinary result of a posthumous father-daughter collaboration—tells Mendek’s whole story and is filled with eye-opening revelations, effective self-healing techniques, and profound wisdom that have the power to transform the way we live our lives. Authors: Mendek Rubin & Myra Goodman Publication Date: April 14, 2020
