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“. . . a survival story of the highest order, navigating the complex terrain of marriage, medical crisis, and a future reimagined.” —CAROLINE VAN HEMERT, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass A marine biologist’s adventurous life as a professor and mother in Alaska is upended when her healthy husband is slammed by a rare type of stroke. His radical approach to recovery clashes with her instinct to keep him safe at home and sets them on a collision course as he insists on ambitious sailing expeditions with Beth and their young son in Alaska’s magnificent yet unforgiving waters. Author: Beth Ann Mathews Publication Date: May 2, 2023 -
When Amy Daughters reconnected with her old pal Dana on Facebook, she had no idea how it would change her life. Though the two women hadn’t had any contact in thirty years, it didn’t take them long to catch up and when Amy learned that Dana’s son Parker was doing a second stint at St. Jude battling cancer, she was suddenly inspired to begin writing the pair weekly letters. When Parker died, Amy not knowing what else to do, continued to write Dana. Eventually, Dana wrote back, and the two became penpals, sharing things through the mail that they had never shared before. The richness of the experience left Amy wondering something: If my life could be so changed by someone I considered “just a Facebook friend,” what would happen if I wrote all my Facebook friends a letter? A whopping 580 handwritten letters later Amy’s life, and most of all her heart, would never, ever, be the same again. As it turned out, there were actual individuals living very real lives behind each social media profile, and she was beautifully connected to each of those extraordinary, flawed people for a specific reason. They loved her, and she loved them. And nothing, not politics, beliefs, or lifestyle could separate them. Author: Amy Weinland Daughters Pub Date: May 17, 2022 -
2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Winner, Memoirs (Other) 2016 IPPY: Silver medal, Sexuality/Relationships 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Self Help: Relationships Ann has two kids, two careers, two divorces, a pile of friends and sings soprano in the church choir. But after twelve years single, she is sick of celibacy. She’s been through enough to know that marriage is not what she was brought up to expect, and that love can be slippery and uncertain. With a re-awakened libido and a longing for adventure, she steps outside her comfort zone—embarking on a boundary-pushing, soul-searching journey into the world of online dating. Ranging from Montclair, New Jersey to Harare, Zimbabwe, Daring to Date Again: A Memoir is a compelling, often racy memoir of one woman’s late-life adventures with sex and dating in the modern world. As she rollicks (and bawls) her way through dozens of relationships, Evans tackles some touchy topics with humor and insight: the morality of dating married men, whether women over sixty should consider having children, what age difference is too much, and more. Daring, frank, and a little bit nutty, Daring to Date Again is a story about what happens when a lonely, sex-starved sixty-year-old woman decides to put herself on the market again—but on her own terms. Author: Ann Anderson Evans Publication Date: November 11, 2014 -
At the tender age of twenty, Jenn faces a pivotal moment when her boyfriend, Morey, proposes marriage after only a few weeks of dating. Her intuition urges her to say no, but she’s spent the entirety of her teenage years caregiving for family; she yearns for adventure, and she thinks relocating to California with Morey will give her the freedom she craves. So she says yes—only to find herself back in the caregiver role after he becomes disabled a few years into their marriage. But it’s Morey’s volatile personality that ultimately leads Jenn to make a brave decision: it’s time to leave. Dancing on My Own Two Feet takes a poignant turn as Jenn relocates to New York City after her divorce. Here, she rediscovers a long-forgotten passion for dance and embarks on a transformative journey that transcends the physicality of movement. Each dance becomes a channel to tap into her inner wisdom, providing the courage to explore the world and embrace new adventures. Then Jenn encounters Gable, a potential suitor, prompting new questions to arise for her: Is she better off on her own? Or could Gable be the love and dance partner she’s been longing for? Author: Jenn Todling Publication Date: April 29, 2025 -
In Dancing on Coals, Cynthia Moore describes a multi-decade, harebrained search for love in all the wrong places, starting when her narcissistic mother abandons her to a Swiss finishing school. Devastated by her mother’s betrayal, eleven-year-old Cynthia vows to become acceptable—but to whom? Seeking approval first as a madcap performance artist and then an as over-functioning therapist, our narrator is finally forced to abandon her competitive, masculine compulsivity for a genuine quest for inner truth. Ultimately, she finds her voice, develops her gifts, and discovers love, but not where she expected to find it. At times humorous and self-deprecating, at times poignant and heartbreaking, this is the story of one woman’s path from abandonment to wholeness and authenticity. Author: Cynthia Moore Publication Date: March 25, 2025 -
Set against the backdrop of the early American presence in Iran under the Shah, and the burgeoning years of Kuwait’s early oil boom, Dancing into the Light is Kathryn Abdul-Baki’s memoir of growing up within both the expatriate Western communities and the larger Middle Eastern society of Kuwait and Jerusalem. Hers is a story of belonging to two vastly different cultures and finding her place within both, and the search to find the inherent harmony in worlds at odds with each other. She is already caught in both the joys of and the struggle to be both Arab and American, yet not fully either, when her young life of promise is disrupted by tragedy. But instead of derailing her life, her mother’s death opens the door to deeper love and support from other places within Kathryn’s family. Dancing into the Light is a story of love, loss, and renewal, and of overcoming devastating early trauma through music, dancing, and the love and devotion of strong American and Arab women. Author: Kathryn Abdul-Baki Pub Day: September 5, 2023 -
A mother’s love and persistence are put to the test when her teen daughter is stricken with a mysterious, debilitating illness. As time goes on, Dana's condition drives everyone away; everyone, that is, except for her mother. Finally, desperate to improve Dana’s health, the two hit the road in search of a cure. Dana’s chronic symptoms require endless supplements, pharmaceuticals, and dietary restrictions, evoking a heroine’s journey. Full of humor, blind hope and alternative medicine, Dancing in the Narrows is a poignant chronicle of Anna and Dana’s multiyear odyssey toward healing from trauma. Author: Anna Penenberg Publication Date: July 7, 2020 -
Ever since Eve was banned from the garden, women have endured the oftentimes painful and inaccurate definitions foisted upon them by the patriarchy. Maiden, mother, and crone, representing the three stages assigned to a woman’s life cycle, have been the limiting categories of both ancient and modern (neo-pagan) mythology. And one label in particular rankles: crone. The word conjures a wizened hag—useless for the most part, marginalized by appearance and ability. None of us has ever truly fit the old-crone image, and for today’s midlife women, a new archetype is being birthed: the creatrix. In Creatrix Rising, Stephanie Raffelock lays out—through personal stories and essays—the highlights of the past fifty years, in which women have gone from a quiet strength to a resounding voice. She invites us along on her own transformational journey by providing probing questions for reflection so that we can flesh out and bring to life this new archetype within ourselves. If what the Dalai Lama has predicted—that women will save the world—proves true, then the creatrix will for certain be out front, leading the pack. Author: Stephanie Raffelock Publication Date: August 24, 2021 -
Rachel likes to think of herself as a nice Jewish girl, dedicated to doing what’s honorable, just as her parents raised her to do. But when her husband, David, survives a plane crash and is left with severe brain damage, she faces a choice: will she dedicate her life to caring for a man she no longer loves, or walk away? Their marriage had been rocky at the time of the accident, and though she wants to do the right thing, Rachel doesn’t know how she is supposed to care for two kids in addition to a now irrational, incontinent, and seizure-prone grown man. And how will she manage to see her lover? But then again, what kind of selfish monster would refuse to care for her disabled husband, no matter how unhappy her marriage had been? Rachel wants to believe that she can dedicate her life to David’s needs, but knows in her heart it is impossible. Crash tackles a pervasive dilemma in our culture: the moral conflicts individuals face when caregiving for a disabled or cognitively impaired family member. Publication Date: April 27, 2021 Author: Rachel Michelberg -
Jealous of her brilliant older sister, Ernestine longs for her father’s approval as a little girl but is never good enough. When she discovers a talent for the flute, she meets a charismatic teacher who gives her the encouragement she craves and becomes her surrogate father. After winning several competitions, she dreams of being a professional musician, but her stern father ridicules the idea and forces her to attend Emory University as a math major like her sister.
Ernestine doesn’t give up on her musical dreams, however, and halfway through college she wins the second flute chair in the Atlanta Symphony. There, she sits beside her former teacher, the principal flute. At first, she loves working with him, but after one successful season he turns on her and does everything in his power to get her fired. Devastated by her idol’s merciless harassment, she’s driven into a spiral of suicidal depression. As she tries to recover, her vulnerability is exploited, again and again, by the very men she turns to for help.
A harrowing account of one woman’s battle with twentieth-century misogyny, Countermelodies follows Ernestine as, through the darkness, she clings to her love for the flute and her unshakable dream of making it in the cutthroat world of classical music.
Author: Ernestine Whitman Publication date: September 24, 2024 -
After a decade of caring for crazy and keeping her mother’s mental illness a secret from the outside world, twenty-year-old Paolina Milana longs for just one year free from the madness of her home. When she gets the chance to go to an out-of-state school, she takes it, but her family won’t leave her be. Letter after letter arrives, constantly reminding her of the insanity rooted in her family tree. Even worse, the voices in her own head whisper words she’s not sure are normal. “Please don’t make me be like Mamma,” she prays to a God she’s not sure is listening. The unexpected death of her father soon after she returns home leaves Paolina in shock—and in charge of her paranoid schizophrenic mother. But it isn’t until she is twenty-seven and her sister two years her junior explodes in a psychotic episode and, just like Mamma, is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and must be committed, that Paolina descends into her own despair, nearly losing herself to the darkness. Poignant and impactful, Committed is one woman’s story of resilience as she struggles to stay sane despite the madness that surrounds her. Publication Date: May 4, 2021 Author: Paolina Milana -
Terry Repak and her partner moved to West Africa with two small children at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. He did AIDS work while she wrote and raised their children to become global citizens like their parents. Living in different countries̵–from Ivory Coast and Tanzania to Switzerland—Terry embraced every opportunity to meet people of other cultures and to bear witness to the ravages of AIDS. Like many expats, she was torn between the pull of home when a parent’s health declined or her siblings needed help and the draw of epic landscapes and foreign cultures. The lessons she learned while living overseas—though not always easy—were deeply transformative. Candid, thoughtful, and instructive, Circling Home explores the notion of home and of how the bonds we form with people from other countries and cultures can profoundly change us. Author: Terry A. Repak Pub Date: September 12, 2023 -
For fans of Daniella Mestyanek Young’s Uncultured and Tara Westover’s Educated, one woman’s gripping firsthand account of falling into—and eventually escaping—a female guru–led cult as she seeks her own personal awakening. Growing up under the sway of a Brooklyn housewife turned guru, Priya Hutner is drawn into a world shaped by bizarre rituals, spiritual promises, and oppressive beliefs. What begins as a quest for enlightenment unravels into a stifling reality as the boundaries between spiritual devotion and control blur—and as Priya becomes an integral part of the ashram community, sharing the guru’s teachings, she becomes further entangled in a web of spiritual control and manipulation. In this deeply personal memoir, Priya shares her struggle to break free from her guru and the cult-like grip to which she falls prey. Priya’s traumatic escape from the community marks a profound turning point as she regains personal power, rediscovers herself, and achieves true liberation in the process. A spiritual adventure story and a cautionary tale, Chasing Nirvana is a story of love, heartbreak, and redemption that offers a powerful reflection on the perils of blind faith and the beauty of reclaiming one’s life on one’s own terms. Priya’s story is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for resilience, self-discovery, and freedom from the bondage of belief. Author: Priya Hutner Publication Date: March 3, 2026 -
“[Changed by Chance] is a heartbreaking, inspirational story of perseverance through a maelstrom of tragic events that Barker manages to triumph over. The experiences in this book seem almost too harrowing to be true, yet the author’s intelligent, clear prose will keep readers grounded. It’s food for thought for every reader.” —Kirkus Reviews Elizabeth Barker spent years planning and working hard to achieve her version of the American dream – one that is supposed to culminate in parenthood and the role of supermom. But when her first child is born with Down syndrome and a fatal heart condition, her dream suddenly becomes a nightmare. And that’s only the beginning… Liz’s new reality is a detoured obstacle course of life altering encounters, medical mishaps, a breast cancer diagnosis, and cruel hardships. From the moment of her daughter’s birth, she is pummeled with life lessons that no schooling or formal education could have ever taught her. Can Liz keep her sanity and some semblance of her former self alive and well through all of this? Changed by Chance is a courageous story of soul searching introspection about how this champion acquired the necessary life skills to Triumph over Tragedy. Her inspiring journey offers a roadmap to others who may face their own bumps in the road. Author: Elizabeth Barker Publication Date: September 15, 2015 -
“A provocative book. Viewed through the lens of her own experience of homelessness, Josephine Ensign challenges us to view the homeless as real, complex people rather than social issues, or, worse, problems. Her committed vision as a clinician and author makes this a powerful narrative of one of the pressing social issues of our time.” —Theresa Brown, New York Times best-selling author of The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients' Lives At the beginning of the homelessness epidemic in the 1980s, Josephine Ensign was a young, white, Southern, Christian wife, mother, and nurse running a new medical clinic for the homeless in the heart of the South. Through her work and intense relationships with patients and co-workers, her worldview was shattered, and after losing her job, family, and house, she became homeless herself. She reconstructed her life with altered views on homelessness—and on the health care system. In Catching Homelessness, Ensign reflects on how this work has changed her and how her work has changed through the experience of being homeless—providing a piercing look at the homelessness industry, nursing, and our country’s health care safety net. Author: Josephine Ensign Publication Date: August 9, 2016 -
After Frieda Hoffman’s second miscarriage, she felt alone, ignorant, and overwhelmed with emotions. Finding little literature or support available, her entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and she decided to create the resource she wished she’d had: real stories about pregnancy loss from real women without the off-putting lens of religion or academia so typical of the self-help genre. Through Hoffman’s own journey and those of nineteen women she interviewed, Carry Me explores universal themes of grief, bearing witness, transforming adversity into opportunity, and the paradox of feeling alone while sharing a common experience. The diverse women and narratives unpack the physical, emotional, and financial challenges of loss; notions of womanhood and motherhood; and the intersections of public health, body politics, and patient care. Readers are called to action to share their own stories in order to heal themselves and support others. Nearly everyone knows someone affected by pregnancy loss, yet most of us are not comfortable, even in the relative safety of the company of friends and sisters, discussing this serious health issue. It’s time to normalize the dialogue and help one another through our losses by sharing our resources, our wisdom, and our stories by carrying one another. Author: Frieda Hoffman Pub Date: June 7, 2022 -
Growing up in Santa Barbara, California, way too close to the Hollywood dream machine, Jenna Tico’s self-worth wanes to invisibility when her identity becomes enmeshed with validation from celebrities and spiritual F-boys . . . until she claws her way back to empowerment. Here, Tico shares vulnerable personal essays, stories, and poetry—all grouped following the cycles of the moon—chronicling her journey from late bloomer to full grownup.Observing the world of twenty-something relationships from perspectives as diverse as a bachelorette houseboat, a music festival afterparty, and the airplane ride to a death bed, she validates the experiences of women who feel like they have been abandoned by the generation that came before them. Her self-reflective stories encourage healthy life choices for young women without telling them where, what, or how to live their lives—and always with a healthy dash of humor on the side. Simultaneously hilarious and poignant (without the whiff of morality play),Cancer Moon invites readers to embrace their twenties—aka the “age of wallowing”—as a humorous and necessary step toward understanding how we become who we want to be in the world. Author: Jenna Tico Publication date: September 17, 2024 -
Born to a depressed, exhausted mother and an abusive father who uses his seven children as cheap labor for his business schemes, Sue, Carole, and Kathy raise themselves in their chaotic household. The sisters all marry young; two divorce quickly. But despite the obstacles they face, the three women grow into confident businesswomen and remain extremely close as they build families and recover from their toxic childhood.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the sisters gather over chilled martinis to take a serious look at the future and decide they should be together—in business. Bring on the cake. Liqueur-infused cake, that is. They soon start handing out samples of their inventions at farmers markets like seasoned carnival barkers, and soon a Food Network producer who’s stopped by their table invites them to New York City—sparking a hilarious adventure involving one-way streets, security guards, and the NYPD, all in an effort to get their cake into the hands of the producers at The Food Network and Rachel Ray.
Following Sue, Carole, and Kathy from childhood and through the development of the Full Spirited Flavours cake company, Cakewalk is a delightful romp that will have readers rooting for these three sisters every slice of the way.
Author: Sue Katein, Carole Algier, and Kathy Lanyon Publication Date: September 3, 2024 -
Joanne Greene grew up in Boston during the 1960s and ’70s, a turning point for women in the United States. Doors were opening wider, and Joanne walked through as many as she could. As a young woman, she dove headfirst into San Francisco radio and television, and went on to host and produce award-winning feminist and other timely features and talk shows for decades. Throughout, she worked at having a great marriage and being an exemplary parent. But underlying her high-achieving life was a sometimes-destructive need for control. Vulnerability and dependency were okay . . . for other people. Joanne’s value was tied to how in charge, how together, and how productive she was. Then she suffered a traumatic accident—and it set her on a journey of discovery that taught her true power came in the still moments, the moments when she not only loosened her grip but even allowed herself to crack. In fragility, Joanne found, there was beauty—and possibility, too. By Accident is a story about discovering that control is a seductive illusion and how letting go of the need for it can reveal great strength and lead us to even firmer ground. Pub Date: June 20, 2023 Author: Joanne Greene -
One woman’s dark night leads her on a journey to find her light. Butterfly Awakens depicts the story of the extraordinary transformation of a forty-something Italian American attorney as she moves through unimaginable grief and sadness watching her beloved mother lose her battle to breast cancer. This tumultuous life experience shifts her world, causing her to question her life choices and opening her up to her soul’s calling. Nocero brings readers along on her journey through a dark night of the soul as she deals with the grieving process, a toxic work environment, and intense stress that results in depression, anxiety, and an acquired somatic nervous disorder called tinnitus. Through it all, she never gives up, instead looking for the help she needs to start to heal and find her light. In the end, like the metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly, this story is a beautiful love letter that honors Nocero’s mother’s legacy while detailing the awakening of her own. There are many stories about breast cancer and grief, but none are quite like this one. Throughout her tale, Nocero pulls the reader deep into her story through the intensity of her emotions; and in the end, after resigning from her career as a federal prosecutor due to a toxic administration, she searches for the lighthouse she saw in a vision when her mother died. Embarking on a spiritual pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain to get to the lighthouse at Cap Finisterre, she sets out to wake up and live again; the butterfly connection and stark honesty of her writing offers readers important lessons learned from moving through grief so that each person can shine their light again. Author: Meg Nocero Publication Date: September 7, 2021 -
Sometimes, in the blink of an eye, the unthinkable can happen; events in your life that cause you to ask: why me? Inspired, and inspiring, award winning author Jane Enright’s extraordinary uplifting memoir of surviving three life-altering events in the span of a year, losing almost everything, and coming out the other side stronger, more resilient, and happier than ever before is compelling and thought provoking. A feel-good story that everyone can relate to and learn from, Butter Side Up shows there can be happiness and joy after the unexpected—and a super awesome life, too. Author: Jane Enright Pub Date: June 7, 2022 -
2017-18 Reader Views Literary Award, Nominations for Regional, Global and other Special Awards “It’s impossible to read But My Brain Had Other Ideas and not be in awe of this woman’s determination to triumph over her disease. Brandon’s clear-eyed approach to her story will hook you from the first chapter and remind you what it means to live life full on. Her refusal to be circumscribed by angioma is a reminder of the power of hope in all of our lives.” —Lee Woodruff, New York Times best-selling author and journalist When Deb Brandon discovered that cavernous angiomas—tangles of malformed blood vessels in her brain—were behind the terrifying symptoms she’d been experiencing, she underwent one brain surgery. And then another. And then another. And that was just the beginning. The book also includes an introduction by Connie Lee, founder and president of the Angioma Alliance. Unlike other memoirs that focus on injury crisis and acute recovery, But My Brain Had Other Ideas follows Brandon’s story all the way through to long-term recovery, revealing without sugarcoating or sentimentality Brandon’s struggles—and ultimate triumph. Author: Deborah Brandon Publication Date: October 10, 2017 -
At sixty-five, artist, writer, and psychologist Sharon Strong doesn’t fit into the cultural stereotype of “senior citizen”—and she has no desire to. Instead, she claims the next decade as the most transformational years of her life. At sixty-six, she erects the first of what will become a series of monumental sculptures on the Black Rock Desert at Burning Man. At sixty-seven, she treks in the Himalayas. At seventy, she meets the love of her life and begins a new life with him. To honor her seventy-fifth year, she delves into an inward journey with psilocybin mushrooms. But life has its own seasons and time. The Great Recession necessitates the closing of Sharon’s gallery. She comes to the end of Burning Man. A wildfire destroys her home and, most devastating of all, completely incinerates her art studio and twenty years’ worth of work. Through it all, Sharon honors her experiences—even the most painful ones—because she knows that each one helps shape who she is. Ultimately, Burning Woman is a passionate love story about the adventure of aging that will inspire readers to feel their strength and commit to living their lives to the fullest and with a sense of pride and purpose. Author: Sharon Strong Pub Date: June 21, 2022 -
One terrible night in 2011, Brin Miller’s life is upended when she learns that her teenage stepson has been sexually abusing her two daughters. Once this secret is discovered, Brin’s marriage, already crumbling and unable to sustain itself, breaks apart. But against all odds, Brin and her husband, along with their daughters, are gradually able to learn resilience, forgiveness, strength, and courage, and—miraculously—Brin’s marriage begins to heal. Haunting and horrible yet hopeful and beautiful, Buried Saints is a fast and raw memoir of forgiveness and resilience, a revelatory look into a family deeply destroyed by deceit, and a truly astonishing story about the intense, unpredictable love of two parents who have to decide whether to fall or flourish in a tragic situation. Author: Brin Miller Publication Date: April 16, 2019
