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In 1969, at age twenty, Martina moves to San Francisco. She lives in a commune, marries her hippie streetcar driver, and moves away from the city—first to Mendocino County, Oregon, and then to the Virgin Islands. In 1980, Martina comes out. She finds her life partner, Tanya, at work, and in 1986 they have a son, Cooper. In 2008, Martina is diagnosed with serious tongue cancer. Her journey in the aftermath of this diagnosis is one of hope, fear, family, friendship, perseverance, and learning to live with a terminal diagnosis. Reaves braids these strands of her life together in I’m Still Here, presenting readers with a nuanced, poignant exploration of what it means to live—and love—authentically. Author: Martina Reaves Publication Date: April 21, 2020 -
As featured in the New York Times “Modern Love” column * a Redbook Magazine must-read * Rumpus, Hello Giggles, Bustle, and Southern Living magazine Fall book pick Fugitives from a man as alluring as he is violent, Andrea Jarrell and her mother develop a powerful, unusual bond. Once grown, Jarrell thinks she’s put that chapter of her life behind her—until a woman she knows is murdered, and she suddenly sees that it’s her mother’s choices she’s been trying to escape all along. Without preaching or prescribing, I’m the One Who Got Away is a life-affirming story of having the courage to become both safe enough and vulnerable enough to love and be loved. Author: Andrea Jarrell Publication Date: September 5, 2017 -
Francesca Bodin has a near-perfect life as an accomplished music teacher and professional flautist living in the country with her husband, Ben and their four-year old daughter, Addie. This ends suddenly when a snowmobiling accident traps the three of them in a frozen lake. Ben gets out, leaving her and Addie to die. Francesca believes she sees their dog pull Addie from the lake and drag her into the nearby woods. Desperate to help her daughter, she struggles to emerge from the icy waters, and follows them. Once she enters the forest, however, she finds herself trapped in a sinister dream-like world where night never ends, where Addie’s whereabouts remain hidden from her and where she encounters a group of women who, like Francesca, have been left to die and now seek to unleash their revenge on those who have harmed them. When they have Ben in their sights, Francesca realizes that if she is ever to escape this nightmare and save her daughter, she must first save the husband who abandoned them. Author: Susan Speranza Pub Date: May 24, 2022 -
“I was riveted by this story of an adoring daughter struggling to escape the dominance of her brilliant, charismatic father. Garber writes beautifully about the layered complications of family love.” —Monica Wood, author of The One-in-a-Million Boy, When We Were the Kennedys, Any Bitter Thing, and Ernie’s Ark What could be cooler, thinks teen Elizabeth Garber in 1965, than to live in a glass house designed by her architect dad? Ever since childhood, she’s adored everything he loves—his XKE Jaguar, modern art, and his Eames black leather chair—and she’s been inspired by his passionate intensity as he teaches her about modern architecture. When Woodie receives a commission to design a high-rise dormitory—a tower of glass—for the University of Cincinnati, Elizabeth, her mother and brothers celebrate with him. But less than twenty years later, Sander Hall, the mirror-glass dormitory, will be dynamited into rubble. Implosion: Memoir of an Architect’s Daughter delves into the life of visionary architect Woodie Garber and the collision of forces in the turbulent 1970s that caused his family to collapse. Soon after the family’s move into Woodie’s glass house, his need to control begins to strain normal bonds; and Elizabeth’s first love, a young black man, triggers his until-then hidden racism. This haunting memoir describes his descent into madness and follows Elizabeth’s inspiring journey to emerge from her abuse, gain understanding and freedom from her father’s control, and go on to become a loving mother and a healer who helps others. Author: Elizabeth W. Garber Publication Date: June 12, 2018 -
2016 Best Book Awards: Fiction: Multicultural Finalist “In a Silent Way offers a moving portrayal of a committed, young teacher-activist, Jeanna, who is determined to effect change in her urban school and community. Jeanna's culturally relevant and inclusive pedagogy, and her determination to never give up on her students, ultimately wins their respect and admiration. All the while, Hetzel makes sure to shine a much needed light on undemocratic practices and unequal gendered power dynamics in social and racial justice movements.” ―Jonathan Kozol, education activist and award-winning author of Death at an Early Age and Savage Inequalities: Children in American Schools In a Silent Way chronicles the coming of age in the late sixties of young Jeanna Kendall as she quietly facilitates a close-knit community of learners in a progressive urban school, grapples with racism and sexism within her community activist group, and experiences the extreme highs and lows of her first intimate relationship—which happens to be with a revered and powerful community leader. Jeanna encounters all the same issues we confront today: youth of color demeaned and destroyed, wise community elders discounted by leaders who “know better,” and the “sexploitation” of women in the movement. Gradually overwhelmed by the mounting challenges she faces on all fronts, and on the verge of a breakdown, a crisis emerges within her movement group that transforms everything and everyone and opens up a new world of possibilities—ones deeply relevant to us today. Author: Mary Jo Hetzel Publication Date: October 18, 2016 -
When Caitlin Billings became a therapist, she did so with an intention to heal from her past. She wasn’t planning on a mental health relapse or an involuntary psychiatric hold. She was a mother now. A mental health professional. She thought the issues she’d faced in her past were dealt with, tucked away forever. She was wrong. Over the years, Billings contends with bipolar disorder while raising two children and fighting to regain her footing as a clinician. She feels she’s finally gotten a handle on her mental health when, on the cusp of adolescence, her elder child begins to struggle with disordered eating and depressive symptoms. Convinced that she is to blame for her child’s struggles, Billings pivots her attention to this new crisis, determined to keep it together for her family—but after it comes out that sexual abuse has taken place in their home, she questions her ability to protect her children and experiences a relapse. Amidst all this turmoil, her elder child also comes out as transgender, forcing yet another kind of reckoning. Billings must find a way to accept the many changes and unexpected challenges that have reared up in their lives—and, ultimately, to accept herself. Author: Caitlin Billings Pub Date: July 12, 2022 -
In Pursuit of Radio Mom brings the reader tight to Terry Crylen’s side as it traces her path from frequent and debilitating anxiety, loneliness, and shame—and a dysfunctional marriage that mirrors the dynamics of her relationship with her mother—to the discovery of her authentic self and the happiness and fulfillment such a transformation brings. Radio Mom also illuminates the ways in which one generation impacts the next—both wittingly and unwittingly—when later, while pressing along the difficult route of raising her own daughter, the author is challenged to confront, yet again, the legacy of her past. A book that also makes transparent the process of psychotherapy, In Pursuit of Radio Mom’s message is this: the excavation of pain clears space within the mind and heart—affording the growth of new insight, overturning fear, and making acceptance and forgiveness possible. Author: Terry Crylen Pub Date: October 24, 2023 -
“Lise Weil’s quest to split the world open and recreate it anew takes her on a physical and spiritual journey that helps shape a movement―and ultimately lands her on a Zen cushion where she begins to recognize the gifts, as well as the limitations, of her own desire. This is the most alive and embodied book I’ve read in years. I found myself inspired and broken-hearted again and again. Weil’s story continues to burn in the heart long after the last page is turned.” ―Donna M. Johnson, author of the New York Times best-selling Holy Ghost Girl When Lise Weil came out in 1976, she came out into a land that was all on fire. Lesbian desire was the pulsing center of an entire way of life, a culture, a movement. The air throbbed with possibility. At the center of In Search of Pure Lust is Weil’s immersion in this culture, this movement: the grand experiment of lesbian feminism of the ’70s and ’80s. She and the women around her lived in a state of heightened erotic intensity that was, she believed, the source of their most vital knowledge. Desire was their guiding light. But after fifteen years of torrid but ultimately failed relationships that tended to mirror the tumultuous political currents swirling around her, she had to admit that desire was also a conduit for childhood wounds. It reared its head when she was feeling wary, estranged— abused, even. It flagged when she was fondest and most trusting. And it tended to trump love, over and over again. In the mid-’80s, when a friend asked Weil to accompany her on a Zen retreat, she was desperate enough to say yes. Her first day of sitting zazen was mostly hell—but smitten with the (female) roshi, she stuck with it, later returning for sesshin after sesshin. A period of difficult self-examination ensued and, over a period of years, she began to learn an altogether different approach to desire. Ultimately, what her search for pure lust uncovered is something that looks a lot like love. Author: Lise Weil Publication Date: June 5, 2018 -
When David Herron—overwhelmed and despairing, his family’s business and finances in ruin due to the bursting lending bubble of 2008—takes his own life one chilly spring morning, he has no idea the ripple effect his decision will set into motion. Two years later, his widow, Jules, is now an employee of the bakery she and David used to own—and still full of bitterness over David’s lies, perceived cowardice, and ultimate abandonment of her and their now-teenage daughter, Rennie. Rennie, meanwhile, struggles socially at school, resents her work-obsessed mother, and is convinced she’s to blame for her father’s death. When Denise, the former police detective who worked (and, due to her own personal struggles at the time, mishandled) David’s case, catches sight of Rennie at her sons’ school, she’s struck by the girl’s halo of sadness—and becomes obsessed with attempting to right the wrongs she believes she perpetrated two years ago. And as all this unfolds in Boston, Daniel, the guilt-ridden young man who, in his old life as a banker, helped create the circumstances that led to David’s suicide, continues to punish himself for his sins by living half a life, working odd jobs and bouncing from one US city to another, never staying long enough to make friends or build something lasting. Ultimately, each of these very different people—all of them tied together by one tragic event—must learn in their own way how to say good-bye to the past and move into a brighter future. Author: Jane Ward Publication Date: September 21, 2021 -
2016 Best Book Award Finalist, Women’s Issues "In the Game is the riveting memoir of a trailblazing woman who blasted down the locked doors that had effectively shut women out of the practice of law since the writing of the Ten Commandments. Her strength, her spirit, and her brilliance shine through these pages and show how it took all of that to overcome the enormous obstacles put in her way.” —Marcia Clark, author of crime novel Blood Defense and former O.J. Simpson prosecutor “Garrity is further proof that women really do run the world.” —Redbook.com Peggy Garrity began her life as a small-town Irish Catholic girl in the Midwest. Initially convent-bound, she became determined to escape a life like her mother’s, and in the mid-1970s she reinvented herself as a high-profile Los Angeles trial lawyer and single mother of four. At a time when there were virtually no women solo practitioners, she represented David against Goliath—and risked it all in the process. Including compelling courtroom dramas featuring would-be presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore, celebrities Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, and Cheryl Tiegs, and some of Los Angeles’s most notorious murder cases, In the Game is the groundbreaking story of a thrill-seeking solo trial lawyer—and single mother—who beat the odds at a time when working mothers, especially those in male-dominated professions like the law, faced the gauntlet of discrimination. Author: Peggy Garrity Publication Date: August 9, 2016 -
2016 Best Book Award Winner, Fiction: African American “A laugh-out-loud look at growing up at any age told with honesty and warmth.” —Books & Life “Funny, smart and compulsively readable! Ginger McKnight has a hit on her hands. And Terry McMillan fans can rejoice that they can add a new favorite writer to their list!” —Heidi W. Durrow New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Pitched as “a poor man’s Halle Berry,” forty-one-year-old soap star Jo Randolph, has successfully avoided waiting tables since she left Midland, Texas at eighteen. But then, in the span of twenty-four hours, Jo manages to lose her job, burn her bridges in Hollywood, and accidentally burn down her lover/director’s beach house—after which she is shipped home to Texas by her agent to stay out of sight while she sorts out her situation. The more Jo reluctantly reconnects with her Texas “roots” and the family and friends she left behind, the more she regains touch with herself as an artist and with what is meaningful in life beyond the limelight. The summer of 2007 is cathartic for Jo, whose career and lifestyle have allowed her to live like a child for forty years, but who now must transition to making grown-up decisions and taking on adult responsibilities. In the Heart of Texas is a wry, humorous commentary on the complexities of race, class, relationships, politics, popular culture, and celebrity in our current society. Author: Ginger McKnight-Chavers Publication Date: October 25, 2016 -
At twenty-two, Jennifer Cramer-Miller was thrilled with her new job, charming boyfriend, and Seattle apartment. Then she received a devastating autoimmune diagnosis—and suddenly, rather than planning for a bright future, she found herself soaking a hospital pillow with tears and grappling with words like “progressive” and “incurable.” That day, Cramer-Miller unwillingly crossed over from wellness to chronic illness—from thriving to kidney failure. Her chances of survival hinged upon the expertise of doctors, the generosity of strangers, and the benevolence of loved ones. But what kind of life would that be? Spanning two-plus decades, this family love story explores loss and acceptance, moving forward with uncertainty, and forging a path to joy. Four kidney transplants later, Cramer-Miller is here to shine a bright light on people helping people in difficult times with a story that will make you want to hug the humans you love. Because sometimes it’s the sorrows that threaten to pull us apart that ultimately unite us in hope. Author: Jennifer Cramer-Miller Pub Date: August 15, 2023 -
Welcome to Krista Nerestant’s journey from the other side of the globe—the islands of the Philippines—to the United States of America. In Indestructible, she shares the hidden gifts of trauma that have empowered her not just to survive but to thrive in a life most would have given up on. These pages contain her hard-won understanding of how it’s possible to extract life-healing lessons from each of life’s obstacles—even a violent past. As a young woman, Krista was a traumatized overachiever bound by the cultural and societal limitations of the developing nation in which she was raised. But coming out as a spiritual medium unearthed for her the many resources she had in her emotional arsenal, and inspired her to embark on a healing journey. In this candid memoir she brings readers along with her through the many trials of adversity she’s faced—as well as her moments of triumph and healing. A book that will inspire readers to seek the presence of the Hero within and begin to create the life they want, Indestructible reveals that the power of choice—belief, perspective, feeling—is the ultimate resource. Author: Krista Nerestant Publication Date: September 8, 2020 -
2016 Indie Excellence Winner in Relationships “Insatiable is an extraordinary memoir. It is not only heartfelt, it brings to life a complicated disorder. Through Hauer’s story we can really see what love addiction is and how painful it is. But this is more than a story about the problem, this is a story of recovery and redemption. I highly recommend this book. It is a must-read if you are struggling with this disorder or have a loved one who is suffering and need to know what to do.” —Susan Peabody, author of Addiction to Love In her professional life, Shary Hauer was a confident, successful, high-caliber executive coach who advised big-time corporate leaders around the globe—but her personal life was an entirely different matter. When it came to love, she was insecure, clingy, desperate, willing to do anything and everything to win and keep a man. Because without a man by her side, what good was she? In Insatiable, Hauer fearlessly chronicles her emotional journey from despair to hope, rejection to redemption, and self-hate to self-love, one man at a time. In candid detail, she relates what it is like to be trapped in the torturous cycle of love addiction—what it’s like to be forever searching, needing, obsessing, scheming, and agonizing for love, suffering from a hunger that never ceases—and what it takes to break free of that cycle. An intimate, soul-baring tale that sheds much-needed light on one of the least understood and talked about addictions, Insatiable is the story of one woman’s journey through the hellish, the humiliating, and the humbling in her single-minded pursuit of the most addictive drug of all: love. Author: Shary Hauer Publication Date: May 20, 2015 -
It can take less than a minute to get fired. Less than a minute to hear the words that change your life as you’ve known it. You’re stunned, shocked, humiliated—because your career has defined your life and you’ve been blindsided. You’re a company Loyalist with a capital L, and you’ve been sucker-punched professionally. How do you even talk about this? Countless books focus on leadership and resilience, but none of them take you through what actually happens to women leaders who are suddenly let go, or who endure untenable circumstances and ultimately fire themselves. None of them take you, step by step, through the emotional process of acceptance and beginning again. And that’s where Involuntary Exit comes in. With advice for every unexpected twist, turn, and emotional trigger, this book is based on author Robin Merle’s experience at the top of billion-dollar organizations, as well as her interviews with accomplished women who were suddenly severed from their organizations and navigated their way back to success. The real-life examples she offers in these pages prove that you’re not alone—and that you, too, will get through this. Whether you’ve been fired or need to move on, Involuntary Exit will help you rediscover your value and emerge as a stronger leader on your own terms. Author: Robin Merle Publication Date: October 19, 2021 -
Golden-haired Irma grew up in Imperial Austria believing that wars and prejudice were fading—only to have her life upended and her identity challenged to the core by two world wars. History confronts Irma time and again. Arch-Nazi Adolf Eichmann plays a twisted role in the fate of her prominent Jewish politician husband, Jakob Ehrlich, and her own escape from Vienna. After arriving with her son first in London and then in New York, Irma encounters a dazzling world of power elites, including Chaim Weizmann (the first president of Israel), British parliamentarians, and other renowned figures, and ultimately gets a chance to bring relief to refugees—an effort to which she devotes herself wholeheartedly. Narrated alternately by Irma's granddaughter, Catherine, and Irma herself, this account of Irma's journey from Czech country girl to grande dame in New York is a riveting, intimate tale of aspiration, activism, and world-changing national movements. Part personal memoir, part historical drama, Irma's Passport is ultimately a tribute to human dignity, a story in which one woman can restore the lives of many and courage is a victory in itself. Author: Catherine Ehrlich Publication Date: October 12, 2021 -
“An insightful look at the relationships between senior mothers and their middle-aged daughters . . . An important personal and sociological perspective on women’s lives.” —Kirkus Reviews “A brave book, and one that I admire―a book that will help many aging mothers feel less alone and lead to more open exploration, both in literature and in life.” —Ellen Bass, poet and author of Like a Beggar and coauthor of The Courage to Heal As mothers and daughters age, their relationship shifts and changes in complex and often demanding ways. In It Never Ends, women speak openly about the heartaches and satisfactions of mothering midlife daughters, revealing the issues that arise, the ongoing effects of the past on the present, and the varied and often invisible ways in which they continue mothering. Some describe how they silence themselves to avoid their daughters’ impatience or disapproval, and how this self-silencing makes them feel unknown and unseen; some struggle with sorrow and guilt about what is missing from the relationship; and still others accept their inevitable limitations, forgive themselves and their daughters for mistakes made, and grow to more fully appreciate their deep bond. Author: Sandra Butler and Nan Fink Gefen Publication Date: October 10, 2017 -
After both her parents die, Linda Murphy Marshall, a multi-linguist and professional translator, returns to her midwestern childhood home, Ivy Lodge, to sort through a lifetime of belongings with her siblings. Room by room, she sifts through the objects in her parents’ house and uses her skills and perspective as a longtime professional translator to make sense of the events of her past—to “translate” her memories and her life. In the process, she sees things with new eyes. All of her parents’ things, everything having to do with their cherished hobbies, are housed in a home that, although it looks impressive from the outside, is anything but impressive inside; in short, she now realizes that much of it —even the house’s fancy name—was show. By the time Murphy Marshall is done with Ivy Lodge, she has not only made new discoveries about her past, she has also come to a new understanding of who she is and how she fits into her world. Author: Linda Murphy Marshall Pub Date: July 12, 2022 -
Stuff with four letters ending in a “t” happens to everyone; it’s how you handle it that matters . . . Life puts us all through change; some might even say life is change. In the blink of an eye, the unexpected can happen. Your life can suddenly be toast—butter side down, full of icky stuff you don’t want anywhere near you. Conversely, you can also land butter side up, with wonderful opportunities you never could have imagined. The COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder to all of us that change can change its mind anytime. Now more than ever, it is important to keep perspective and remember that our life is what we create. Positive thoughts have a good effect on us. They can support us to become happier, heathier, and add value to our entire lives—especially during times of great uncertainty. Maintaining a positive mindset can attract more brightness into your life, so you can successfully navigate those curveballs out of left field and move forward, not backward, while life plays out. Jane’s Jam is not self-help jargon; it is edutainment for the soul. Following in the footsteps of Butter Side Up: How I Survived My Most Terrible Year and Created My Super Awesome Life, this powerful, uniquely inspiring, and humorous OMG-playbook approach to overcoming adversity and living your best life will help readers look on the bright side, bounce back from the unthinkable, and intentionally create a super awesome life—no matter what the situation. Author: Jane Enright Publication Date: November 1, 2022 -
Twenty-four years old and newly employed in Manhattan, Jenna McGrath agrees to place herself under the dead body of a wealthy, prominent New Yorker—her boss—to hide the identity of his real lover. But why? Because she is half in love with him herself; because her only friend at Hull Industries asked her to; because she feared everyone around her; because she had no idea how this would spin out into her own, undeveloped life; because she had nothing and no one? Or just because? Deftly told and sharply observed, Jenna Takes the Fall is the story of someone who became infamous . . . before she became anybody at all. Author: A. R. Taylor Publication Date: September 1, 2020 -
When Josie Serafini’s brother Vic loses his wife and children in a tragic accident, Josie leaves her home and beloved horses in Upstate New York to join him in Los Angeles. While helping Vic pick up the pieces of his shattered life, Josie confronts broken relationships with her estranged father and rebellious, singer-songwriter daughter. Josie and Vic each struggle to find where they belong in their changing worlds. Josie finds comfort in nature and in a budding, long-distance relationship with the empathetic equine veterinarian caring for her horses back home. Vic battles depression as he seeks purpose in his life. Josie’s three horses and a Siberian husky help open hearts to tenderness and healing—but it’s an unexpected journey to the US-Mexico border that offers this fragmented family a chance to reconnect. A story of love, loss, and forgiveness, Josie and Vic conveys hope—even in the darkest of times. Pub Date: April 11, 2023 Author: Debra Thomas -
“Memoir guru Linda Joy Myers packs a lot into this useful manual. This is more than a workbook full of exercises and prompts—it’s a guide from a veteran who understands the complexity of the memoir journey. If you’re writing a memoir, this workbook will become your new best friend.” —Brooke Warner, author of What’s Your Book? In Journey of Memoir you will find lessons on how to write a great scene; information on the difference between freewriting and outlining, and why you need both; timeline and turning point exercises to help create structure; and much more. This unique workbook gives you the tools you need to begin, develop, and complete your memoir. Author: Linda Joy Myers Publication Date: February 19, 2013 -
We can all learn how to enjoy good health naturally at any age—and it starts in our kitchens by changing how we eat. In Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease, Sherra Aguirre equips readers with the simplest, most effective way to prevent or reverse heart disease, our number one killer here in the US—especially for African American women, who are on the front lines of the fight against heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. In this empowering guide to healthy eating, Aguirre shares her own story of reversing hypertension and other heart disease symptoms, despite a long family history; she presents current knowledge about the effectiveness of a plant-based diet in reversing disease; and she offers up recommendations from two world-renowned cardiologists who have demonstrated results with patients for many years. Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease guides readers in building a simple food plan around their particular needs with delicious anti-inflammatory foods and provides support for developing the habit of mindful eating. Aguirre explores ways in which choosing a vegan diet and eating consciously are compassionate acts that can positively impact many areas of our lives—and includes tips to help readers sustain results. Full of tips for success based on Aguirre’s personal experience and the experience of others, Joyful, Delicious, Vegan: Life Without Heart Disease is a source of inspiration, encouragement, and staying power for all readers. Publication Date: May 25, 2021 Author: Sherra Aguirre -
“In this extraordinary work, Annette Gendler illuminates the borders and meeting points between Judaism and Christianity, Germans and Jews, American Jews and Israeli Jews. Writing with eloquent precision, she reminds us why converts to Judaism are among the most precious gifts to the Jewish people. This book confirms Annette Gendler as an indispensable Jewish voice for our time.” —Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers, Senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem History was repeating itself when Annette Gendler fell in love with a Jewish man in Germany in 1985. Her Great-Aunt Resi had been married to a Jew in Czechoslovakia before World War II—a marriage that, while happy, created tremendous difficulties for the extended family once the Nazis took over their hometown in 1938, and ultimately did not survive the pressures of the time. Annette and Harry’s love, meanwhile, was the ultimate nightmare for Harry’s family of Holocaust survivors. Weighed down by the burdens of their family histories, Annette and Harry kept their relationship secret for three years, until they could forge a path into the future and create a new life in Chicago. As time went on, however, Annette found a spiritual home in Judaism—a choice that paved the way toward acceptance by Harry’s family, and redemption for some of the wounds of her own family’s past. Author: Annette Gendler Publication Date: April 4, 2017
