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“In 100 Under $100, writer, artist and activist Betsy Teutsch showcases creative, low-cost tools that are helping the world’s most impoverished women improve their lives. You’ll learn about $1 eye glasses, eco-toilet biogesters, biochar briquettes, and bike-powered machines to pump water or shell corn. Inspiring yet practical, lavishly illustrated and loaded with suggestions for reader engagement, this book is a goldmine for entrepreneurs, designers, philanthropists, and all who seek to expand opportunities for global women. I loved reading this book.” —Marc Gunther, Editor at Large, Guardian Sustainable Business US 100 Under $100: One Hundred Tools for Empowering Global Women is a comprehensive look at effective, low-cost solutions for helping women in the Global South out of poverty. Most books on this subject focus on one problem and one solution; author Betsy Teutsch instead spreads her net wide, sharing one hundred successful, proven paths out of poverty in eleven different sectors—including tech, public health, law, finance, and more—in a visually striking book full of images of vibrant, strong women farmers, health practitioners, entrepreneurs, and humanitarian tech stars doing exciting, cutting-edge work. Eye-opening and compelling, 100 Under $100 is an accessible entry point for globally-attuned readers excited about using a broad range of tools to empower women and help alleviate poverty in the developing world. Author: Betsy Teutsch Publication Date: March 6, 2015 -
Much as Eric Schollsberg’s Fast Food Nation made people think about the way we eat, this provocative memoir and exposé challenges readers to question why, given its long history of cover-ups and systemic safety gaps, we continue to trust the aviation industry. On a stormy late May morning in 2008, TACA Airlines Flight 390 crashes at one of the most dangerous airports in the world, Honduras’s Toncontin International Airport. Five people die in the crash—among them Rossana D’Antonio’s brother, pilot Cesare D’Antonio. Suspecting Cesare will be made a scapegoat for the accident, as so often happens to pilots, Rossana decides to leverage her decades of experience as an engineer and set out in search of the truth. Part memoir, part exposé, 26 Seconds interweaves Rossana’s research regarding other parallel accidents with her own story. Six months after the TACA crash, Captain Sully Sullenberger lands his plane on the Hudson River. Although authorities call his landing a miracle, they also blame him for its necessity. One year after the TACA 390 tragedy, Air France 447 falls from the sky. Again, pilot error. As Rossana digs deeper, she exposes a culture that is too quick to conclude pilot error and an industry that experiences systemic weaknesses, chooses profits over safety, lies to its customers, and is willing to risk lives to get its planes back up in the sky. Ultimately, she uncovers the smoking gun she’s been looking for—revealing the truth about TACA 390, exposing aviation cover-ups, and challenging us all to question the very systems we’ve been told we can trust with our lives. Author: Rossana D'Antonio Publication Date: May 13, 2025 -
Floundering in her second career, the one she’s always wanted, forty-eight year old Cheryl Suchors resolves that, despite a fear of heights, her mid-life success depends on hiking the highest of the grueling White Mountains in New Hampshire. All forty-eight of them. She endures injuries, novice mistakes, and the heartbreaking loss of a best friend. When breast cancer threatens her own life, she seeks solace and recovery in the wild. Her quest takes ten years. Regardless of the need since childhood to feel successful and in control, climbing teaches her mastery isn’t enough and control is often an illusion. Connecting with friends and with nature, Suchors redefines success: she discovers a source of spiritual nourishment, spaces powerful enough to absorb her grief, and joy in the persistence of love and beauty. 48 PEAKS inspires us to believe that, no matter what obstacles we face, we too can attain our summits. Author: Cheryl Suchors Publication Date: September 11, 2018 -
All around us, older women flourish in industry, entertainment, and politics. Do they know something that we don’t, or are we all just trying to figure it out? For so many of us, our hearts and minds still feel that we are twenty-something young women who can take on the world. But in our bodies, the flexibility and strength that were once taken for granted are far from how we remember them. Every day we have to rise above the creaky joints and achy knees to earn the opportunity of moving through the world with a modicum of grace. Yet we do rise, because it’s a privilege to grow old, and every single day is a gift. Peter Pan’s mantra was “never grow up”; our collective mantra should be “never stop growing.” This collection of user-friendly stories, essays, and philosophies invites readers to celebrate whatever age they are with a sense of joy and purpose and with a spirit of gratitude. Author: Stephanie Raffelock Publication Date: April 28, 2020 -
2016 International Book Awards: Finalist, Health: Psychology & Mental Health “[H]onest, brave, and soul-baring in its exploration of grief and clinical depression.” —Colorado Review Two weeks before his college graduation, Kelley Clink’s younger brother Matt hanged himself. Though he’d been diagnosed as bipolar as a teenager and had attempted suicide once before, the news came as a shock—and it sent Kelley into a spiral of grief and guilt. After her Matt’s death, a chasm opened for Kelley between the brother she’d known and the brother she’d buried. She kept telling herself she couldn’t understand why he’d done it—but the truth was, she could. Several years before he’d been diagnosed with bipolar, she’d been diagnosed with depression. Several years before he first attempted suicide by overdose, she had attempted suicide by overdose. She’d blazed the trail he’d followed. And if he couldn’t make it . . . what hope was there for her? A Different Kind of Same traces Kelley’s journey through grief, her investigation into what role her own depression played in her brother’s death, and, ultimately, her path toward acceptance, forgiveness, resilience, and love. Author: Kelley Clink Publication Date: June 9, 2015 -
When faced with overwhelming hardship, what we believe makes all the difference. At age twenty-six, Anne Reeder Heck was attacked by a stranger and brutally raped. Years later, still seeking to heal the remnants of this trauma, Anne stands alone in her living room one winter day and claims her desired belief aloud: “This is my year of strength.” Her clear intention results in a phone call; her rapist has been identified—fourteen years after the crime. Offering all the gripping and uplifting details of a story that sparked national interest—Heck appeared on the front page of The Washington Post and was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America—A Fierce Belief in Miracles lights the way for those seeking to heal from life’s traumas by demonstrating the importance of clear intention and trusting inner guidance, and the transformative power of forgiveness. Author: Anne Reeder Heck Publication Date: September 22, 2020 -
For fans of The Good Wife and Suits, the true story of a passionately principled young female judge in the man’s world of the ’60s and ’70s who is forced to defend her judgeship against two male challengers in a grueling election—while pregnant with her second child. Janet Kintner could have ended up just another victim of the system. Abused as a child, sexually assaulted as a young woman, the odds were not in her favor—but instead of letting these experiences destroy her, she used them as fuel in pursuit of her dreams. By twenty-four, she was a newly minted lawyer determined to secure justice for everyone, regardless of their gender, race, religion, or income. In 1968, the District Attorney’s office told Kintner, “We will not hire a woman lawyer.” Men dominated the legal system. Undaunted, she established herself as a lawyer who represented low-income people and, eventually, as a high-profile prosecutor specializing in consumer fraud. San Diego lawyers elected her the third woman ever to the County Bar Association Board of Directors. In her private practice, she continued to help everyone she could, often pro bono. In 1976, when Kintner was thirty-one and pregnant, Governor Jerry Brown appointed her the third female judge in history in San Diego—a move that didn’t sit well with some men in her field. Two years later, two men challenged Kintner, a mother pregnant with her second baby, in the nastiest judicial election of the year. In the coming months, Kintner struggled to balance her time between her children, working full-time in a stressful job, and campaigning. She didn’t want to let other women, present and future, down. But was San Diego ready to elect a female judge? Author: Janet Kintner Publication Date: December 2, 2025 -
“A heart-wrenching and inspiring contribution to the literature of loss and disability, A Leg to Stand On offers the visceral detail, black humor, and grit of a fine novel combined with all the vulnerability of the deepest, most honest memoirs. Colleen Haggerty captures the tender and defiant voice of the 17-year-old she was when she lost her leg in a terrifying auto accident. But the author manages to imbue that voice with the ferocity required of her as she found a way to accept and surmount her disability. Anyone who has ever confronted limitation will be inspired by Haggerty’s story.” —Amy Friedman, author of Desperado's Wife: A Memoir When Colleen Haggerty lost her leg in an accident during her senior year of high school, she could have retreated from life and let her disability become her defining quality—and no one would have blamed her for it. Instead, she went the opposite way. In the years following her accident, Haggerty explored her physical world with vigor, testing the limits of her body by joining a ski team, playing with a co-ed soccer team, and taking up kayaking and backpacking. She also tested the limits of her heart, pursuing love and passion with restless men. In A Leg to Stand On, Haggerty recounts her life as a disabled woman, from redefining herself as a young woman after tragedy—fierce and able, but haunted by hard choices and suppressed grief—to choosing marriage and motherhood. That choice comes at great cost to the physical freedom Haggerty has fought for, but ultimately she finds redemption, fulfillment, and self-acceptance in the bargain. No one will read this book without being inspired to accept their past and create the future they always wanted. Author: Colleen Haggerty Publication Date: November 11, 2014 -
For fans of Chanel Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana, a real-life story of how a young woman’s five-day trip to Cuba, her mother’s birthplace, completely changed her view of herself as a second-generation American. When Barbara Caver was growing up in South Carolina, her Cuban roots were as mysterious as the embargoed island her mother had been born on but left in 1959. For Barbara, Cuba represented a heritage that she’d never understood and couldn’t fully embrace. When she moved from South Carolina to New York, the vibrant diversity of the city and new friendships with other Cuban Americans made her curious about her mother’s home country. Finally, in 2017, she traveled to Cuba. Immediately upon arriving in Havana, Barbara was struck by a sense of the familiar: tiles on a backsplash looked like tiles in her grandparents’ home, the airport smelled like a childhood memory, local dishes tasted like her grandmother’s cooking, and a morning stroll through Vedado delivered her to the front gate of her great-grandmother’s home—despite the fact that she didn’t have the address. She wasn’t just visiting a foreign country; she was being welcomed home. Part travel adventure, part ghost story, and part memoir, A Little Piece of Cuba: A Journey To Become Cubana-Americanais an imaginative and humorous personal journey through Barbara’s memories and experiences as she discovers that she is and has always been more Cuban than she thought. Author: Barbara Caver Publication Date: December 2, 2025 -
Negotiating collaboratively in your committed relationship is a new way to achieve individual and marital goals, to resolve differences equitably, to manage conflicts, to create and sustain a satisfying sex life, to figure out where you stand on fidelity, to think about having and caring for kids, and to have committed careers and a satisfying family life. Negotiating collaboratively supports you and your partner seeing yourselves simultaneously as individuals and as a couple—enhances the sense of “being in this together” while also having individual life plans. Negotiating collaboratively supports valuing each other as individuals before seeing each other as husband and wife, and allows modern couples to challenge old gender trappings that can undermine the achievement of balance in a committed relationship. Straightforward and accessible, A Marriage of Equals offers couples a road map for how to negotiate collaboratively around the most essential aspects of a committed relationship—and, in doing so, create the equitable marriage they long for. Author: Catherine E. Aponte PsyD Publication Date: May 28, 2019 -
From an early age, Kyomi’s life was filled with emotional difficulties—an adulterous father, an overreliant mother, and a dismissive extended family. In an effort to escape the darkness of her existence in Japan, Kyomi moved to the States in February 1990 to start a new life as a researcher working at NIH in Bethesda, MD. Soon, she fell in love with her husband-to-be: Patrick, a warm, charismatic British cancer researcher whose unconditional love and support helped her begin to heal the traumas of her past. Eventually, their journey together led them to change their careers and move to San Diego, CA, where they dedicated themselves to a Buddhism practice that changed both their lives—aiding them in their spiritual growth and in realizing their desire to help others. Then Patrick was diagnosed with stage IV metastatic melanoma in the brain—and, after a fierce, three-year-long battle against his cancer, died on July 4, 2016. Devastated, Kyomi spent a year lost in grief. But when she one day began to write, she discovered that doing so allowed her to uncover truths about herself, her life history, and her relationship with Patrick. In the process, she surfaced many old, unhealed wounds—but ultimately writing became her daily spiritual practice, and many truths emerged out of the darkness. After many years of struggle and searching, Kyomi finally found the love and light that had existed within her all along. Author: Kyomi O'Connor Publication Date: Septermber 6, 2022 -
January 2021, ten months into the global pandemic, Sherry Sidoti’s mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer—so Sherry prioritizes a trip to Manhattan over long-awaited empty-nesting and her “second chance” with fiancé Jevon. With new life blooming and loss looming, she is beckoned to answer the question that has haunted her since childhood: is freedom found in “letting go,” as the spiritual teachers (and her mother) insist—or is it found by digging our heels deeper into the earth and holding on to our humanness? A Smoke and a Song is Sherry’s story of her quest to make meaning from the memories homed in her body. Told with tenacity, tenderness, and wry humor, Sherry stumbles towards self-actualization, spiritual awakening—and, despite it all, love. This is a story steeped in art and spirituality that explores the complexities of transgenerational maternal bonds, attachment, loss, and leaning in to our wounds to find the wisdom. Author: Sherry Sidoti Pub Date: August 1, 2023 -
“The prolific author and playwright parcels her stream of consciousness into wily and witty essays in Life in New York.” —The New York Times That elusive Holy Grail of modern physics, A Theory of Everything (ToE), would explain the universe in a single set of equations. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking tackled the problem during their lifetimes and the quest continues today in laboratories around the world. Leaving string theory, galaxy clusters, and supersymmetry to the Quantum Computer and Hadron Collider crowd, Pedersen has taken up the rest—that is, A Theory of Everything Else (ToEE), based on her own groundbreaking experiences as a dog walker, camp counselor, and Bingo caller. Pedersen’s essays are a series of colorful helium balloons that entertain as well as affirm and uplift. Why, she ponders in one essay, are thousands are perishing as a result of assault weapons, carbon emissions, forest fires, pesticides, and processed foods—and yet how lawn darts were banned in the 1980s after two people died? In A Theory of Everything Else, Pedersen vividly demonstrates how life can appear to grind us down while it’s actually polishing us up—and why everyone wants to live a long time but no one wants to grow old. Author: Laura Pedersen Publication Date: September 1, 2020 -
Kelley Skoloda was the healthiest person she knew—until the day she became a cancer patient. During her first, routine colonoscopy—without having experienced any symptoms—Kelley received a shocking diagnosis: colon cancer. Based on the true story of her subsequent cancer journey, A Way Back to Health reveals how surprising lessons paved the way for her recovery, shares helpful action steps for those who find themselves in a similar situation, and illuminates how personal stories can powerfully motivate and heal. In addition to telling her own story, Kelley also features examples of how other, amazing survivors have learned to manage, survive and thrive in the face of cancer. She also explores how often overlooked actions, such as trusting your instincts, speaking up, getting a second opinion, and watching for miracles, can have a profound impact on recovery—lessons meant to help patients advocate for themselves and help friends, family, and caregivers as they wrestle with cancer and its treatment. Much more prevalent than COVID-19, cancer will affect one in three people directly, and many more indirectly, in their lifetime. A Way Back to Health, with its real-life stories and unexpected lessons, is a helpful and relatable guide to the most important information you need to know about cancer—for the time you need it most. Author: Kelley Skoloda Publication Date: November 9, 2021 -
Named as a Best Book of 2018 by Kirkus Reviews Being kind is something most of us do when it’s easy and when it suits us. Being kind when we don’t feel like it, or when all of our buttons are being pushed, is hard. But that’s also when it’s most needed; that’s when it can defuse anger and even violence, when it can restore civility in our personal and virtual interactions. Kindness has the power to profoundly change our relationships with other people and with ourselves. It can, in fact, change the world. In A Year of Living Kindly―using stories, observation, humor, and summaries of expert research―Donna Cameron shares her experience committing to 365 days of practicing kindness. She presents compelling research into the myriad benefits of kindness, including health, wealth, longevity, improved relationships, and personal and business success. She explores what a kind life entails, and what gets in the way of it. And she provides practical and experiential suggestions for how each of us can strengthen our kindness muscle so choosing a life of kindness becomes ever easier and more natural. An inspiring, practical guide that can help any reader make a commitment to kindness, A Year of Living Kindly shines a light on how we can create a better, safer, and more just world―and how you can be part of that transformation. Author: Donna Cameron Publication Date: September 25, 2018 -
2016 Santa Fe literary awards - finalist 2016 Next Generation Indie Book awards – finalist in military 2016 USA Best Book Awards - finalist in the memoir category At age nineteen, Dorit Sasson, a dual American-Israeli citizen, was trying to make the status quo work as a college student—until she realized that if she didn’t distance herself from her neurotic, worrywart of a mother, she would become just like her. Accidental Soldier: A Memoir of Service and Sacrifice in the Israel Defense Forces is Sasson’s story of how she dropped out of college and volunteered for the Israel Defense Forces in an effort to change her life—and how, in stepping out of her comfort zone and into a war zone, she discovered courage and faith she didn’t know she was capable of. Author: Dorit Sasson Publication Date: June 14, 2016 -
Fans of Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died will love this true story of a damaged primal bond between mother and daughter that, after decades of estrangement, was finally repaired. The conflict began when Carla, as a preteen, stepped in to defend her father against what she perceived as her mother’s harsh treatment—a move that destroyed the warm love she and her mother had for each other and began an “ice age” between them. Forty years later, determined that this mother and daughter not end as tragedy, Carla uses every tool available to her—psychology, diplomacy, humanity, wit, patience—to try to repair their bond. Finally, over her mother’s kitchen table, they melt the ice and find their way back to laughter and closeness. Too often today, problem relationships are labeled “toxic,” with the idea it is “healing” to offload a relationship no longer serving you. This loving, grounded memoir shows that rebuilding a primal bond is doable—and will prompt readers to ask themselves, Could I do the same? What if I reached out, today? Author: Carla Seaquist Publication Date: January 14, 2025 -
Join Carole Bumpus, her husband, Winston, and their friends in Book Four of Savoring the Olde Ways, her culinary-travel series. Following in the footsteps of writer Peter Mayle, Bumpus is on a quest to find the real Provençe. On three separate excursions—from Nice to Nîmes, Moustiers to Marseilles, and San Tropez to San Remy—and while sailing along the Côte d’Azur, she invites you to join her in uncovering the mysteries of Provençe. Are they hidden within their myths, festivals, or traditions? Is it possible they’re veiled in the sheer beauty of the land and sea? Could they be concealed in Roman arenas in Arles, Orange, or Glanum? Or, perhaps, within the ancient methods of traditional cooking or winemaking? Maybe they are hidden in plain sight among the locals who open their hearts, their bistros, and homes to strangers. Yes, you may find it in chefs while cooking in ancient kitchens, in the smile of the shy barmaid who speaks no English, in the giggle of the Pizza Wagon baby, in the agreeable village baker, or in the patient waiter and harbor master—but you will most especially experience it through friends who fling open their doors to share their families’ recipes. Traveling alongside Bumpus, that is where you’ll discover the real Provençe. Author: Carole Bumpus Publication Date: November 12, 2024 -
In 1937, at the age of nineteen, Ralph Hall, suicidal, revealed his sexual orientation to his grandmother, knowing she would comfort him. He was out for three years afterwards, until an indiscretion sent him back into the closet. At twenty-four, while in the army, he met and married Irene. The couple made their home on the San Francisco Peninsula and had four children. Ralph was an attentive husband and father—albeit with an intense interest in interior design, flower arranging, and fine objects—and a diligent worker who rose to payroll accountant at Standard Oil. It wasn't until 1975 that Ralph came out to his middle daughter, Laura, telling her that he had once considered his sexuality an aberration, an affliction. She was shocked, as the possibility her father might be gay had never crossed her mind. Irene had known Ralph’s secret for eighteen years, but the two remained married until she died. It was only then that this charismatic man and devoted father, by now in his eighties, could freely express his authentic, gay self. Here, Laura paints a vivid and honest portrait of her beloved father and the effect his secret had on her own life. Publication Date: July 13, 2021 Author: Laura Hall -
Alfa Foxtrot 586, a P-3 Orion turboprop, was conducting a sensitive Cold War mission off the Kamchatka Peninsula on October 26, 1978, when a propeller malfunction turned into four engine fires and the pilot—Loreen Grigsby’s husband, Jerry—was forced to ditch into remote, mountainous seas churned by a frigid North Pacific storm. The aircraft sank within ninety seconds, taking one of the three rafts with it—which left thirteen men to huddle together in the remaining two rafts, the smaller of which soon began to leak. Told from Loreen’s perspective as a navy wife at home as well as through the eyes of the men who survived the disaster, All Eternity Lies Before Me weaves a gripping tale of struggle, uncertainty, grief, and heroism. It shares Loreen’s terror as she receives notifications about her husband’s crew’s desperate battle against wind, seas, and biting cold. It details the ad hoc search and rescue mission, a valiant effort to rescue the men before time runs out. And, tragically, it tells how a young Navy wife becomes a widow and single mom. But Jerry’s death is not the end of Loreen’s story—and in the years following his loss, she discovers resilience, strength, and even new love with one of the accident survivors, Matt Gibbons. As she begins her journey toward a brighter future, she’s inspired by the camaraderie and brotherhood forged between the survivors and their rescuers—and ultimately, the long-term lessons learned by all involved become part of the lasting legacy of this event. Author: Loreen Gibbons Publication Date: January 7, 2025 -
Emil, a Jewish man in 1930s Germany, loves Deta, a Lutheran, but Nazi racial purity laws forbid their marriage. Desperate to find a place where their love can survive, they must separate to get away. Deta leaves for England, but Emil has to overcome red tape, resistance from his aging parents, and his own ambivalence before he can embark for America. With only telegrams and letters from Deta to sustain him, he does all he can to bring her and his family to America. But the clock is ticking as the war breaks out and the Nazis tighten their stranglehold. From the heartbreaking news of November 10, 1938 (Kristallnacht) to the horrific revelations after the German surrender in 1945, Emil’s story runs the course of the war. Can he make his way in this new world? Will he be reunited with his beloved Deta? And will he ever see his family again? Told by Emil’s daughter with the help of letters and historical documents, All for You is a true story about love overcoming despair and the impact the Holocaust continues to have on the rising generation. Author: Dena Rueb Romero Publication Date: May 7, 2024 -
As a young girl growing up in the Midwest, Sunny is taught to think differently. Her parents are the founders of a small Christian school that practiced Socratic Discourse and encouraged its students to question everything—a lesson Sunny embraces wholeheartedly. As Sunny grows older, she begins to build the life she’s always wanted: she marries, buys a house, enrolls in graduate school, and soon has a baby on the way. But when she experiences the psychological phenomena of orgasmic labor, it triggers a chain of bizarre events, and she gradually descends into a world of delusion and paranoia. As Sunny struggles to separate the real from the unreal, she relies upon friends and family to ground her in truth and love—and keep her from going over the edge into madness. Author: Sunny Mera Publication Date: November 10, 2015 -
The incidence of cancer continues to rise—but despite how many lives have been touched by cancer, hearing of a loved one or friend’s diagnosis still invokes such fear that it is hard to know what to do next. In All of Us Warriors, Rebecca Whitehead Munn paints a realistic picture of the impact cancer has on an individual’s life, and she attempts to demystify the experience by sharing heartfelt stories from twenty survivors and their loved ones, men and women, with seven types of cancers and all stages of the disease, as well as advice regarding how to approach someone you love living with cancer and tips and tricks for helping others feel joy in the midst of pain. This inspirational book provides a positive outlook of strength and perseverance, reinforcing the idea that the reader is stronger than cancer and not alone, and offering real strategies that cannot be found in online medical sites. Like a conversation with a new best friend (or twenty of them), All of Us Warriors is full of understanding, acceptance, and practical advice gained from personal experience. Author: Rebecca Whitehead Munn Publication Date: September 1, 2020 -
“With grace and keen wit Miriam Weinstein provides a survivor’s manual for all who face loss. Colleagues, friends, and loved ones die frequently in her account. This book is a love letter to them, as well as a guide to those left behind. Weinstein teaches us how to mourn as well as how to embrace the gift of life that is still ours.” —Daniel Jacobs, Director, Center for Advanced Psychoanalytic Studies When Miriam Weinstein’s good friend died unexpectedly—and other losses followed close behind—it led to a year of introspection and black outfits. All Set For Black, Thanks features the practical concerns that go along with funerals, from how to write and deliver a eulogy (Including endearing, down-to-earth details like “she always burned the garlic bread” or “he never could figure out the remote” bring the subject to closer to life) to larger questions, like why we bring casseroles to the grieving—and what might be a better response. With wit and deep feeling, Weinstein confronts the rough bargain of human existence: no one gets out of here alive, but we live as if the lives of our loved ones have no end. In stories and portraits, she shows how we can both let our dead go and keep them with us as we go on living. Author: Miriam Weinstein Publication Date: September 13, 2016 -
“A striking, sensitive record of voyages and acceptance.” —Kirkus Reviews A sweeping exploration of beginnings and endings, loss and letting go. All the Ghosts Dance Free takes readers on a journey through author Terry Cameron Baldwin’s life: from her childhood in a privileged but unstable enclave on the coast of Southern California, through her adolescence in Palm Springs and coming of age in San Francisco at the height of the sixties psychedelic revolution, and ultimately to her life as an ex-pat in Mexico. Struggling to deal with the death of her parents, as well as questions about her own mortality. Baldwin embarks upon a pilgrimage to a small town in Morocco—where, she finds, all of the ghosts dance free. Author: Terry Cameron Baldwin Publication Date: October 13, 2015 -
In September 2007, Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. In All the Silent Spaces, Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event—a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced. As new memories surfaced after the attack, it took everything in Ristaino’s power to not let catastrophe unravel the precarious threads holding everything together. Moving between the greater issues associated with violence and the personal voyage of overcoming grief, All the Silent Spaces is about letting go of what you think you know in order to rebuild. Author: Christine Ristaino Publication Date: July 9, 2019 -
All the Sweeter tells the stories of families who have adopted one or more children from the US foster care system. Each of the twelve families interviewed has a dedicated chapter in which at least one representative tells their family’s adoption story. Woven through these stories are topical chapters that explore the common challenges these families face, including the complications that accompany transracial adoptions, helping children understand adoption, relationships with birth parents, and raising a traumatized child. Each year, over 50,000 children are adopted from the US Foster Care System. Informative and diverse in scope, All the Sweeter provides a resource to families considering adoption, families in the process of adoption, and families who have already adopted children from foster care—with the ultimate goal of facilitating a better life for the children they bring into their lives. Publication Date: May 7, 2019 Author: Jean Minton -
Despite having everything she could ask for, Janet Wilson couldn’t shake a sense of emptiness in her life—or her desire to return to the continent of her birth. After much back-and-forth, she and her husband reached an agreement: they would embark on a daring adventure, driving 25,000 miles across Africa. What they couldn’t anticipate then was how this trip would challenge almost every belief, opinion, and value they held. Over the course of their journey, Janet and her husband collided with the world and each other. There were tears and laughter. They shared thrilling highlights and challenges that forced them to negotiate and cooperate with one another. And after a heartbreaking tragedy and Janet’s arrest, they made critical decisions that transformed their relationship, bringing them to a level of trust and commitment they had never before experienced. Ultimately, this led them to a deeper understanding about their place in the world—and each other’s lives. A suspenseful and emotional true account that explores themes of love, commitment, resilience, and the power of forgiveness in the face of adversity, All You’ll See is Sky is a memoir of a woman’s transformation from brokenness to wholeness and a couple's transformation from breakdown to breakthrough. Author: Janet Wilson Publication Date: April 16th, 2024 -
Raw and wickedly funny, this debut memoir details one woman’s recovery from her emotional eating disorder, while navigating divorce, discrimination, motherhood, and the madness that is Tinder dating. A riot of dark humor beginning with her dysfunctional childhood in outback Australia, Jane McGuinness details her recovery from an emotional eating disorder with dry wit, discovering that hers is something of a curious social experiment. Exploring themes of patriarchy and discrimination against the overweight, Jane walks away from her long-term marriage, returns to grad school while raising her three children in a foreign country, and transforms her health. Hiking the Camino de Santiago through Spain and adventures in Greece are regaled with self-deprecating fervor, while horrifying post-divorce Tinder dating will leave the reader amused and aghast in equal measure. This debut memoir is truly a transformative journey in every sense, as Jane discovered that it was never food that she hungered for after all. Author: Jane McGuinness Publication Date: October 14, 2025 -
For fans of Natasha Trethewey and Maggie Smith, a mother-daughter story of multigenerational trauma, grief, discovery, and love, with the backdrops of an historic American tragedy and an iconic family business, written in lyrical, fragmented form. In 1960, six years before Marty Ross-Dolen was born, her maternal grandparents were killed in an airline disaster involving the collision of two commercial jets over New York City. They were traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to seek placement for their family’s iconic magazine, Highlights for Children, on the newsstands. Their daughter—Marty’s mother—was fourteen years old at the time. This genre-bending memoir tells Marty’s story of being raised by a mother in protracted mourning. The fragmented narrative explores Marty’s journey, from personal ways of coping as a child to the evolution of a mother-daughter relationship that matured over time. It is also about her longing to know her maternal grandmother, and through saved letters and photographs from her grandmother’s life, she enters a fantastical relationship that serves to replace one that otherwise could never exist. Ultimately it is about the discovery of truth, in unearthing the story of her grandparents’ deaths and her mother’s acute loss, in freeing her grandmother’s image from the weight of a tragic death, and in Marty’s own delivery from darkness. Beyond that, it is about universal life choices, the ways human beings unknowingly determine their destinies, and the healing powers of truth and love. Author: Marty Ross-Dolen Publication Date: May 6, 2025 -
Growing up in middle-class India, Rajika Bhandari had seen generations of her family look westwards, where an American education meant status and success. But she resists the lure of America because those who left never returned, flies trapped in honey in a land of opportunity. Yet, Bhandari soon heads to a U.S. university to study, following her heart and a relationship. When Bhandari’s relationship ends and she fails in her attempt to move back to India as a foreign-educated woman, she finds herself in a job where the personal suddenly becomes political and professional: she is immersed in the lives of international students who come to America from over 200 countries, the universities that lure them, and the tangled web of immigration that a student must navigate. Bhandari’s unflinching and insightful narrative explores the global appeal of a Made in America education that is a bridge to America’s successful past and to its future, bringing millions of the world’s brightest students to the U.S., from Barack Obama’s father and Kamala Harris’s parents to Nobel Prize winners and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. A deeply personal story of one young woman’s search for her place and voice, America Calling is also an incisive analysis of America’s relationship with the rest of the world through the most powerful tool of diplomacy: education. At a time of growing nationalism, a turning inwards, and fear of the “other,” America Calling is ultimately a call to action to keep America’s borders and minds open. Author: Rajika Bhandari Publication Date: September 14, 2021 -
2013 IndieReader Discovery Awards: Winner, Best Travel Writing When an American woman and her British husband decide to buy a two-hundred-year-old cottage in the heart of the Cotswolds, they’re hoping for an escape from their London lives. Instead, their decision about whether or not to have a child plays out against a backdrop of village fêtes, rural rambles, and a cast of eccentrics clad in corduroy and tweed. Part memoir, part travelogue—and including field guides to narrative-related Cotswold walks–Americashire is a candid, compelling tale of marriage, illness, and difficult life decisions. Author: Jennifer Richardson Publication Date: March 4, 2013 -
In 1999, Juliet Cutler leaves the United States to teach at the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa. Captivated by the stories of young Maasai women determined to get an education in the midst of a culture caught between the past and the future, she seeks to empower and support her students as they struggle to define their own fates. Cutler soon learns that behind their shy smiles and timid facades, her Maasai students are much stronger than they appear. For them, adolescence requires navigating a risky world of forced marriages, rape, and genital cutting, all in the midst of a culture grappling with globalization. In the face of these challenges, these young women believe education offers hope, and so, against all odds, they set off alone―traveling hundreds of miles and even forsaking their families―simply to go to school. Twenty years of involvement with this school and its students reveal to Cutler the important impacts of education across time, as well as the challenges inherent in tackling issues of human rights and extreme poverty across vastly different cultures. Working alongside local educators, Cutler emerges transformed by the community she finds in Tanzania and by witnessing the life-changing impact of education on her students. Proceeds from the sale of this book support education for at-risk Maasai girls. Author: Juliet Cutler Publication Date: September 10, 2019 -
Faced with the possibility of losing their three-day-old second child when she contracts meningitis, Norman and Rita Angelini experience all five stages of grief. Terrified for their daughter, they bargain, plead, and beg for a miracle—and they get one, but it isn’t what they expected: though KiKi survives, her illness results in severe brain damage, and she is ultimately diagnosed with cerebral palsy. In the aftermath of this diagnosis, denial and anger take over. Rita fights to keep her vision of who she thinks KiKi could be, and she channels her energy into searching for a procedure—some therapy—that would change KiKi’s outcome. In pursuit of a cure, the Angelini family treks across the United States and abroad—but somewhere along the way, acceptance of and joy in who KiKi is prevails over the idea of “fixing” her. A memoir of unending hope, faith lost and rediscovered, and unconditional love, An Unexpected Normal offers other parents of children born with a disability hope that joy is always within reach—even in the most challenging of circumstances. Author: Rita T. Angelini Publication Date: March 4, 2025 -
Anarchy in High Heels is not a state of dress; it’s a state of mind. A San Francisco porno theater might be the last place you’d expect to plant the seed of a feminist troupe, but truth is stranger than fiction. In 1972, access to birth control and a burn-your-bra ethos were leading young women to repudiate their 1950s conservative upbringing and embrace a new liberation. Denise Larson was a timid twenty-four-year-old actress wannabe when, at an after-hours countercultural event, The People’s Nickelodeon, she accidentally created Les Nickelettes. This banding together of ¬¬like-minded women with an anything-goes spirit unlocked a deeply hidden female humor. For the first time, Denise allowed the suppressed satirical thoughts dancing through her head to come out in the open. Together with Les Nickelettes, which quickly became a brazen women’s lib troupe, she presented a series of feminist skits, stunts, and musical comedy plays. In 1980, The Bay Guardian described the group as “nutty, messy, flashy, trashy, and very funny.” With sisterhood providing the moxie, Denise took on leadership positions not common for women at the time: playwright, stage director, producer, and administrative/artistic director. But, in the end, the most important thing she learned was the power of female friendship. Publication Date: July 27, 2021 Author: Denise Larson -
After 27 years of motherhood, Rita Lussier’s youngest child heads to New York City and Rita drives home to what she thinks will be the calm after the storm only to find no comfort, nothing familiar. Welcome to the Great Big Empty Nest! The parenting mission that had infused Rita’s days and nights with so much purpose has abruptly changed leaving her lost and confused, not an ideal state of mind to begin the messy and uncomfortable process of reinventing her life. Rekindling her marriage and friendships. Kickstarting her career. Making difficult choices about her house, finances and future all the while adjusting to the ever-changing demands of growing-up children and aging parents. And Now, Back to Me invites readers along as Rita recreates nearly every aspect of her life at a time when she thought she’d be kicking back to enjoy it. As a columnist for The Providence Journal, it was precisely these types of personal glimpses that endeared readers to her column making it a popular feature of the newspaper for a dozen years. In her book, Rita shares her experiences with the issues that not only confront her at this crossroads, but millions of parents as well. Author: Rita Lussier Publication Date: March 25, 2025 -
“The day after my son died, a bird walked into my house. That tiny sparrow wouldn’t leave me alone. It kept knocking on my door and showing up in my dreams, until it finally sparked a light within me, and then, something so much more.” Linda Broder loses everything when her fifteen-year-old son Brendan dies—her music, faith, and hope. When a bird walks into her house, her husband and children embrace it as a sign from Brendan. But not Linda; she’s too logical to believe in signs. Still, birds keep clinging to Linda’s windows, whispering in her dreams, and showing up in unexpected places, pulling her back to her music and showing her how to stay open to wonder. Full of hope and resilience and the healing magic of music, And Still the Bird Sings is a story about finding sacred wonder in the midst of unimaginable loss, and a reminder of the many ways we can still connect with the ones we’ve lost. This unforgettable memoir will leave you filled with peace and wonder. Author: Linda Broder Publication Date: November 8, 2022 -
After her mother’s death, Gabrielle Robinson found two diaries her grandfather had kept while serving as doctor during the fall of Berlin 1945. He recorded his daily struggle to survive in the ruined city—“I creep out at 10 o’clock at night to the clinic under whistling grenades and bombs, a wilderness of fire and dust, behind it, although already high in sky, the blood red moon”—and attempts to do what little he could for the wounded and dying without water, light, bedding, and medications. But then the diaries revealed something that had never been mentioned in her family, and it hit Robinson like a punch to the stomach: Api, her beloved grandfather, had been a Nazi. In this clear-eyed memoir, Robinson juxtaposes her grandfather’s harrowing account of his experiences during the war with her memories of his loving protection years afterward, and raises disturbing questions about the political responsibility we all carry as individuals. Moving and provocative, Api’s Berlin Diaries offers a firsthand and personal perspective on the far-reaching aftershocks of the Third Reich—and the author’s own inconvenient past. Author: Gabrielle Robinson Publication Date: September 15, 2020 -
2016 USA Best Book Awards: Narrative Non-Fiction Winner 2016 Foreward INDIE Awards: War and Military Finalist “Written in an unencumbered, conversational style, this book is partly a personal memoir and partly a study of the ways in which civilians make noble sacrifices out of patriotic commitment. Especially given the United States’ many military engagements around the world, this is a timely and thoughtful offering . . . An Army wife’s absorbing testament to the power of family and faith to weather difficult times.” ―Kirkus Reviews Army Wife: A Story of Love and Family in the Heart of the Army begins in the summer of 1969 when the author meets West Point Cadet Dick Cody. A schoolgirl crush and six years of dating turns into an enduring love story and over thirty years of marriage. Vicki is by Dick’s side every step of the way on his path from lieutenant to four-star general and Vice Chief of Staff of the Army. From the last days of the Vietnam War to the present-day war on terrorism, this memoir honors not just commitment between spouses but a commitment to military life. While the couple raise their two sons, Vicki learns to juggle everyday challenges with everything the Army throws at them: emotional ups and downs, long separations, and many moves. As she comes to embrace the uniqueness of her circumstances over more than three decades in an Army family, she finds joy, self-fulfillment, and pride and never loses sight of who she is as a woman. When their two sons enter the Army after September 11, 2001, Dick is in one of the top leadership positions in the Pentagon. It is all of their years of experiences and their love for each other, that gives them the strength to handle the stress and fear of their sons’ combat deployments. This is also a story about a father and his two sons who follow in his footsteps. Author: Vicki Cody Publication Date: August 16, 2016 -
When Alana and Roland, a spirited Canadian couple with an insatiable desire to live life to the fullest, embark on an epic yearlong travel adventure around the world with their newborn son and ten-year-old daughter, they think they’re prepared for whatever might come their way. They soon discover that this is not entirely true. This charming family love story, sure to inspire wanderlust, is peppered with funny parenting mishaps, thrilling adventures, breathtaking sceneries, unforgettable monuments, and culinary bliss. However, as you are taken through the temples of Southeast Asia, the pyramids of Egypt, the rolling hills of Tuscany, and the African plains, you will also be exposed to the world as experienced by a biracial, blended family. Around the World in Black & White is a tale of self-discovery, racial awakening, resilience, and deeper understanding. This bold, witty, and heartfelt memoir will have you rethinking how you travel, how you see the world, and how the world sees you. Author: Alana Best Pub Date: August 29, 2023 -
Art keeps good alive in the worst of times. In the face of ugliness, pain, and death, it’s art that has the power to open us all to a healing imagining of new possibility; it’s art that whispers to the collective that even in the ashes of loss, life always grows again. That’s why right now, in this tumultuous time of war and pandemic, we need poets more than we need politicians. In response to the multitude of global crises we’re currently experiencing, editor Stefanie Raffelock put out a much-needed call to her writing community for art to uplift and inform the world, and the authors of She Writes Press answered. Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis—a sometimes comforting, sometimes devastating, but universally relatable collection of prose, poetry, and art about living through difficult times like these—is the result. Addressing topics including grief and loss, COVID-19 and war in Ukraine, the gravity of need and being needed, the broad range of human response to crisis in all its forms, and more, these pieces explore how we can find beauty, hope, and deeper interpretation of world events through art—even when the world seems like it’s been turned inside out and upside-down. Any and all royalties from Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis will be donated to World Central Kitchen. Publication Date: June 7, 2022 Editor: Stephanie Raffelock Foreword By: Brooke Warner -
“With sensitivity and candor, Baraf examines mental illness, immigration, forgiveness, and community—all framed within the precocity of her life’s circumstances.” —Ms. Magazine “At the Narrow Waist of the World is a compelling account of what it is like to live through turbulence and come out on the other side.” —Foreword Clarion Review “Deftly written, impressively candid, insightfully presented, At the Narrow Waist of the World is an extraordinary and memorable read.” —Midwest Book Review “By the end of At the Narrow Waist of the World, we have come to know, admire and even cherish its author in a way few memoirists manage to achieve . . . . ” —Jewish Journal Raised by a lively family of Spanish Jews in tropical and Catholic Panama of the 1950s and 1960s, Marlena depends on her many tíos and tías for refuge from the difficulties of life, including the frequent absences of her troubled mother. As a teenager, she pulls away from this centered world—crossing borders—and begins a life in the United States very different from the one she has known. This lyrical coming-of-age memoir explores the intense and profound relationship between mothers and daughters and highlights the importance of community and the beauty of a large Latin American family. It also explores the vital issues of mental illness and healing, forgiveness and acceptance. <i>At the Narrow Waist of the World</i> examines the author's gradual integration into a new culture, even as she understands that her home is still—and always will be—rooted in another place. Author: Marlena Maduro Baraf Publication Date: August 6, 2019 -
Inspiring and hopeful, Audacious Voices is a collection of twelve stories from alumnae/alumni of WILL*, a feminist model for education. Each author featured in this book is working, in their own distinct way, to make their communities more equitable―and their stories illustrate how different elements of the WILL* program influence and inspire them to act with such intentionality. Author-activist Courtney Martin writes in The New Better Off that the times we live in may break our hearts, but they don’t have to break our spirit; it’s that spirit that these stories capture, alongside the power of a feminist educational program that engenders such spirit. Emphasizing hope, empathy, resiliency, and solutions by showcasing the transformative power of inclusive leadership, advocacy, and mentorship, Audacious Voices reminds us that real change is possible, even in the current political climate. Authors: Holly J. Blake and Melissa Ooten Publication Date: November 13, 2018 -
After losing her husband, George—her one and only since high school prom—to cancer, fifty-year-old Debbie Weiss found herself opening a new chapter of life that she didn’t know how to start. Initially, she binge-watched Netflix and drank Manhattans. Then she became a dating monster—starting with J-Date and then moving on to multiple other sites. Soon, Debbie was averaging two dates a day; in the blink of an eye, she’d gone from respectable widow to the girl you’d do in your Trans Am but wouldn’t take to the prom. At one point, she was actually dating four guys at once, including a politician who refused to let Debbie meet his family because they’d met online. But as she juggled these many men, she began to feel that midlife dating was less an earnest romantic endeavor and more a battle of the sexes . . . and the line in the sand was how much women were willing to tolerate. Fed up, Debbie went offline. Only then, without the distraction of dating to keep her busy, did she finally, truly grieve her loss—and as she did, she also realized that she needed to forgive herself, both for George’s death and for losing her identity in their marriage. Equal parts poignant and punchy, Available As Is is a darkly humorous account of seeking love—but finding yourself. Author: Debbie Weiss Publication Date: September 13, 2022 -
Do you yearn to make career or life changes but don’t know exactly which direction to take? Are you feeling stuck in unfulfilling work that’s not a good fit and searching for more meaning and purpose in your work life? Do you feel there is more you are meant to contribute but haven’t yet quite figured it out? Do you often ask yourself the question, What am I meant to do with the rest of my life? Whether you’re just starting out in the work world, embarking on a midlife career change, or nearing retirement and wanting a meaningful next chapter, this book has useful guidance for you. Benator draws on her professional experience of over twenty years working with clients and students as a career coach, life coach, and workshop leader to take you on a journey to discover your gifts, interests, and potential and support you to discover your calling and uncover new career and life possibilities. Accented with self-discovery exercises, personal and client stories, advice on how to successfully navigate the obstacles that get in the way of big changes, Awaken to Your Calling is your road map to creating the life―and career―you’re meant for. Author: Randi Benator Publication Date: October 12, 2021 -
“This is a tasty and revealing read that takes you behind the curtain for a valuable peek into what motivates some of the greatest chefs in America. With beautifully displayed heartfelt recipes that connect their food to their memories, Dawn manages to capture each chef's unique inspiration and aura.” —Chef Sanford D'amato, Founder, Sanford Restaurant, James Beard Foundation award winner for Best Chef: Midwest, and author, Good Stock: Life on a Low Simmer Away From the Kitchen offers a glimpse into the joys and pressures of a chef’s life—satisfying the curiosity of those swept up in the wave of America’s chef-obsession. Here, selected chefs from across the nation disclose some of their most personal dreams and talents—revealing who they are inside and outside the kitchen. With its uniquely personal approach, Away From the Kitchen will appeal to foodies everywhere, as well as readers who want it all: the menus, the recipes, and the chef “scoop.” Author: Dawn Blume Hawkes Publication Date: April 4, 2014 -
In the 1970s, Annie Chappell dreams of a homesteading life—a life like the one depicted in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods, where the world is uncomplicated. If she can get to that place, she thinks, the trouble she faces at home—alcohol use, sexual abuse, and the sorrows of modern-day issues—will disappear. Home in Denver during a break from boarding school in the spring of 1973, she meets Bill, a mountain man Vietnam vet who’s traveling through town on his way back to his cabin on the Canadian border in Montana, and she falls in love with the life he describes. In October, after months of imagining a life with Bill, she runs away from boarding school in the East to find him so he can teach her the wild ways. When Annie’s plan fails, she goes back to school to graduate, but she continues to exchange letters with Bill for the rest of the school year—and after graduation, with her parents’ blessing, she makes her way to Montana to live with him. Homesteading with an older man in the wilderness, however, presents challenges she hasn’t anticipated. Ultimately, Annie’s experiences with Bill push her to face her own strengths and fears, as well as her relationship with her parents and home—and to begin to figure out who she really wants to be. Author: Annie Chappell Publication Date: November 8, 2022 -
“[The author] weaves together her own difficult family history with the stories of women who share the burden of abuse. Kahn’s in-depth look at childhood trauma is expert, caring, informative, and affecting.” —Booklist For three decades, Laurie Kahn has treated clients who were abused as children—people who were injured by someone whom they believed to be trustworthy, someone who professed to love them. Their abusers—a father, stepfather, priest, coach, babysitter, aunt, neighbor—often were people who inhabited their daily lives. Love is why they come to therapy. Love is what they want, and love is what they say is not going well for them. Kahn, too, had to learn to navigate a wilderness in order to find the “good” kind of love after a rocky childhood. In Baffled by Love, she includes strands from her own story, along with those of her clients, creating a narrative full of resonance, meaning, and shared humanity. Author: Laurie Kahn Publication Date: June 6, 2017
