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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 -
2017 Beverly Hills Book Awards Winner in Memoir 2016 Indie Excellence Winner in Young Adult Non-Fiction 2017 Independent Press Awards Winner in Memoir After her mother and father divorce at age seven, Leslie quickly learns the hard lessons of being Dad’s favorite. The abuse begins at age nine and doesn’t end until she begins to fight back, finally, at age fourteen. Her father, a larger-than-life Norwegian, assumed full custody of Leslie and her two sisters and moved the family from their 63-acre rustic ranch in Northern California to a 45-foot sailboat in Southern California. The family spent two years living aboard their boat preparing for the trip of their father’s dreams: a trip around the world. On February 5, 1975, the family set sail for French Polynesia. Intense and inspiring, Fourteen is a coming-of-age adventure story about a young girl who comes into her own power, fights back against abuse, becomes an accomplished sailor, and falls in love with the ocean and the natural world. The outer voyage is a mirror of her inner journey, and her goal is to find the strength to endure in a dangerous world, and within a difficult family. Author: Leslie Johansen Nack Publication Date: October 20, 2015 -
“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 -
“[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 -
2015 Best Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir 2016 IPPY Gold Medal Winner in Autobiography/Memoir 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Autobiography/Memoirs Lene Fogelberg is dying—she is sure of it—but no doctor in Sweden, her home country, believes her. Love stories enfold her, with the man who will become her husband, with her enchanting surroundings, and later, with her two precious daughters. But despite her happiness, the question she has carried in her heart since childhood—Will I die young?—is closing in, threatening all she holds dear, even her sanity. When her young family moves to the US, an answer, a diagnosis, is finally found: she is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. But is it too late? Unflinchingly honest and often harrowing, Beautiful Affliction is an inspiring account of growing up and living on the verge of death—and of the beauty, harshness, loneliness, and, ultimately, unbending love that can be found there. Author: Lene Fogelberg Publication Date: September 15, 2015 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Travel: Guides & Essays 2016 IndieFab Finalist in Travel 2016 Readers’ Favorite Awards Gold Medal Winner in Non-Fiction: Travel In the 1960s and ’70s, thousands of baby boomers strapped packs to their backs and flocked to Europe, wandering the continent on missions of self-discovery. Many of these boomers still dream of “going back”—of once again cutting themselves free and revisiting the places they encountered in their youth, recapturing what was, and creating fresh memories along the way. Marianne Bohr and her husband, Joe, did just that. In Gap Year Girl, Bohr describes what it’s like to kiss your job good-bye, sell your worldly possessions, pack your bags, and take off on a quest for adventure. Page by page, she engagingly recounts the experiences, epiphanies, highs, lows, struggles, surprises, and lessons learned as she and Joe journey as independent travelers on a budget—through medieval villages and bustling European cities, unimaginable culinary pleasures, and the entertaining (and sometimes infuriating) characters encountered along the way. Touching on universal themes of escape, adventure, freedom, discovery, and life reimagined, Gap Year Girl is an exciting account of a couple’s experiences on an unconventional, past the-blush-of-youth journey. Author: Marianne Bohr Publication Date: September 1, 2015 -
“Fascinating and insightful . . .” —Booklist, Starred Review Uncovered follows her as a young teen who left her secular home for life as a Hasidic Jew. Ultimately we see her as a forty-something woman who has to abandon the only world she’s know for thirty years for the sake of her personal freedom. Lax details her experiences in the Hasidic fold in understated, crystalline prose—arranged marriage, cult-like faith, endless motherhood without birth control—all the while exploring how creative, sexual, and spiritual longings simmered beneath the surface throughout her time there.Uncovered is the first memoir of a gay woman in the Jewish orthodox world, the moving story of her long journey toward finding a home where she truly belongs.In Uncovered, Leah Lax tells her story—beginning as a young teen who left her liberal, secular home for life as a Hasidic Jew, and ending as a forty-something woman who has to abandon the only world she’s known for thirty years in order to achieve personal freedom. In understated, crystalline prose, Lax details her experiences with arranged marriage, cult-like faith, and motherhood during her years with the Hasidim, and explores how her creative, sexual, and spiritual longings simmer beneath the surface throughout her time there. The first book to tell the story of a gay woman who spent thirty adult years in the Hasidic fold, Uncovered is the moving story of Lax’s long journey toward finding a home where she truly belongs. Author: Leah Lax Publication Date: August 28, 2015 -
2016 Indie Book Award Finalist in Spirituality 2016 IPPY Silver Medal Winner in Spiritual/Inspirational 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Spirituality: General When Margaret Bendet is told to interview an Indian holy man, she thinks it’s just another assignment—but after speaking with him, she decides to accompany him back to his ashram, hoping to find enlightenment. In Learning to Eat Along the Way, Bendet enters a world that many have wondered about but few have seen: the milieu of a spiritual master. Subtle experiences prompt her to embark on this journey with “the swami,” as she calls the holy man, and to enter into the ashram—but once there, she deals with a host of psychological issues, including intense infatuation and life-threatening anorexia. “Each person comes to the ashram in order to receive something,” the swami tells her, “something to take with you when you leave—something you can eat along the way.” Bendet finds this to be truer than she could have imagined. Clear-eyed and candid, Learning to Eat Along the Way is an honest and often surprising account of one woman’s experience with spiritual work. Author: Margaret Bendet Publication Date: August 11, 2015 -
“Dunn’s clear prose and lively recall of her calamities make for an effortless read.” ―People “Witty, smart, droll, moving, and always entertaining, Dunn’s book is nothing short of a thoroughly enjoyable triumph . . .” ―The Oregonian “I loved this book.” ―Rosie O’Donnell Samantha Dunn used to live for the feeling of wind blowing in her hair and the powerful intoxication of her horse’s steady gallop. A tug of Harley’s leathery reins could instantly eradicate mounting bills, unfinished work, and the reality of a troubled marriage from her mind. But one day, as she was leading Harley across a stream in a picturesque California canyon, he panicked, knocked her to the ground, and trampled her—nearly severing her leg in the process. Dunn had always been “accident prone”—but in the aftermath of this incident, she began to analyze the details of her life and her propensity for accidents. Was she really just a klutz? Or could there be some underlying emotional reason she was always putting her life in danger? A blend of personal narrative and of research about what drives some people to have more accidents than others, Not by Accident is an insightful, incisive memoir that helps bridge the gap in understanding that exists on the concept of accident proneness. Author: Samantha Dunn Publication Date: August 11, 2015 -
“A beautiful blend of heart and journalism, The Butterfly Groove is an ethereal portrait of innocence, loss, and a young woman's unwavering curiosity surrounding her mother's past. Barraco's writing is witty and profound, and she has an undeniable skill for breathing new life into the most intimate of memories.” —Charlee Fam, author of Last Train to Babylon In 1999, as a twelve-year-old girl in sunny Southern California, Jessica Barraco loses her mother, Dianne, to cancer complications. Not knowing much about Dianne’s past, Jessica grows more and more curious about her mother’s story each year—especially because her immediate family does not seem to know much more about her mother than the Internet does. A decade after Dianne passes away, now armed with a journalism degree, Jessica unlocks a memory of her mother telling her that she loved her old ballroom dance partner, and she sets out on a two-year quest to find him—along with anyone else who can tell her about Dianne. Part mystery, part coming-of-age story, The Butterfly Groove is a heart-warming exploration of how our pasts tell our truths, and how love survives all of us. Author: Jessica Barraco Publication Date: August 4, 2015 -
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 -
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 -
In accordance with her Sicilian Catholic family’s unspoken code, Paolina Milana learned at an early age to keep her secrets locked away where no one could find them. Nobody outside the family needed to know about the voices her Mamma battled in her head; or about how Paolina forged her birth certificate at thirteen so she could get a job at The Donut Shop; or about the police officer twenty-six years her senior whose promise to her Papà to “keep an eye on her” quickly translated into something sinister. And perhaps that’s why no one saw it coming when—on the eve of her sweet sixteen, pushed to edge—Paolina attempted to take her own mother’s life. Raw and compelling, The S-Word is the true story of a girl who nearly suffocates in the silence she was taught to value above all else—until she finally finds the strength to break free of the secrets binding her and save herself. Author: Paolina Milana Publication Date: May 5, 2015 -
As a young girl in the Midwest, Constance Hanstedt was consumed by fear—of her parents, especially her disapproving mother, of social situations, and of people in general. Unable to connect with those around her, she embraced perfectionism as a substitute for love. Raising her own family eased some of Hanstedt’s self-doubt, but even as an adult, she remained guarded around her mother, avoiding conflict with her at all costs. Still, when her mother developed Alzheimer’s, Hanstedt did what the perfect daughter she’d always struggled to be would do: she returned to the Midwestern town where she was raised to care for a mother who could no longer care for herself. In Don’t Leave Yet, Hanstedt recounts her journey toward facing her fears and rising above the past; her mother’s unrelenting bitterness toward life, even as she loses her memories of it; and her unexpected discovery of an emotion that reaches beyond familial duty: compassion. Author: Constance Hanstedt Publication Date: April 21, 2015 -
Who would you be if you lost everything? Hollye Dexter and her husband Troy woke one night to find their house ablaze. To escape the fire, they had to jump from their second-story window with their toddler son—and then watch their house and home-based businesses burn to the ground. Over the next two years, the family went bankrupt, lost their cars and another home, and got dropped by their best friends. As the outer layers of her life were stripped away, Dexter began to unravel emotionally; but then she found herself on the brink of losing her marriage, and she realized that if she was going to save her family, she would have to pull herself back together somehow. As she fought to reassemble the pieces of the life she’d had, Dexter discovered that a shattered heart has the ability to regenerate in a mighty way; that even in the midst of disaster, you can find your place; and that when everything you identify with is gone, you are free to discover who you really are. Poignant and inspiring, Fire Season is a story for anyone who has ever lost hope—and found it again. Author: Hollye Dexter Publication Date: April 14, 2015 -
2015 National Indie Excellence Award Winner in Autobiography 2015 Writer’s League of Texas Book Awards Winner in Non-Fiction “What makes this book particularly valuable is its vivid depiction of the abhorrent consequences of legalized segregation. What gives it heart is the window it opens to the personal journeys of mother and daughter. An important, riveting history lesson that, unfortunately, is still relevant today.” —Kirkus Reviews In 1967, when Jo Ivester was ten years old, her father transplanted his young family from a suburb of Boston to a small town in the heart of the Mississippi cotton fields, where he became the medical director of a clinic that served the poor population for miles around. But ultimately it was not Ivester’s father but her mother—a stay-at-home mother of four who became a high school English teacher when the family moved to the South—who made the most enduring mark on the town. In The Outskirts of Hope, Ivester uses journals left by her mother, as well as writings of her own, to paint a vivid, moving, and inspiring portrait of her family’s experiences living and working in an all-black town during the height of the civil rights movement. Author: Jo Ivester Publication Date: April 7, 2015 -
2016 International Book Award Finalist in Social Change 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Other) “If you’ve ever felt despair about the state of the world or wondered, ‘What can I do?’ I recommend reading Renewable. Eileen Flanagan’s insightful memoir shows a deep understanding of complex global problems, while showing us how one person can change their life while working to change the world we all share.” —Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director Greenpeace International At age forty-nine, Eileen Flanagan had an aching feeling that she wasn’t living up to her potential—or her youthful ideals. Drowning in e-mail and stuff she didn’t need, the simple Peace Corps life of her twenties was a distant memory, and the African country where she’d taught was in crisis, struggling to adapt to global warming. Renewable: One Woman’s Search for Simplicity, Faithfulness, and Hope is the story of a spiritual writer and mother of two who returned alone to southern Africa to try to help change the world—and unexpectedly found the courage to change her life Author: Eileen Flanagan Publication Date: March 3, 2015 -
“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 -
WINNER: 2015 International Book Awards, Best Multicultural Nonfiction FINALIST: 2015 IndieFab in Travel FINALIST: 2015 International Book Awards, Best New Nonfiction Fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants mom Jennifer Magnuson knew her spoiled suburban brood needed a wake-up call—she just couldn’t find the time to fit one in. But when her husband was offered a position in India, she saw it for what it was: the perfect opportunity for her family to unplug from their over-scheduled and pampered lives in Nashville and gain some much-needed perspective. What she didn’t realize was how much their time in India would transform her as well. Peanut Butter and Naan is Magnuson’s hilarious look at the chaos of parenting against a backdrop of malaria, extreme poverty, and no conveniences of any kind—and her story of rediscovering herself and revitalizing her connection with those she loves the most. Hers is a story about motherhood that will not only make you laugh and nod with recognition—it will inspire you to fall in love with your own family all over again Author: Jennifer Hillman-Magnuson Publication Date: November 11, 2014 -
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 -
Years after suffering sexual and verbal abuse at the hands of her stepfather, Melanie is still haunted by her past. Her husband, Julius—a cop, and thus experienced in dealing with crime and punishment—struggles to understand his wife’s silent pain, but he can’t give her the closure she needs. Determined to exorcise her past, Melanie must choose between revenge and forgiveness. The first may destroy her marriage—but she’s not convinced that the second will bring her the peace of mind she so desperately yearns for. Haunting and hard-edged, Trespassers is an unflinching exploration of what happens to an individual—and a family—in the aftermath of abuse. Author: Andrea Miles Publication date: October 28, 2014 -
“Always being the 'good girl,' pleasing others, and internalizing your feelings is self-destructive. Our childhood is stored in our body, and if we do not heal our wounds someday, the body will present its bill. Roberta Dolan had the courage to transform and heal herself. The techniques she utilized to do so and the changes she made can benefit all those who have ever been abused, physically or psychologically. I strongly recommend reading this book to help you to release whatever pain exists within you and to restore your own life and body. It is never too late to leave the past behind and begin anew, as Roberta did.” ―Bernie Siegel, MD, author of 365 Prescriptions for the Soul and 101 Exercises for the Soul Say It Out Loud—a unique blend of memoir and how-to—exposes the emotional scars of sexual abuse and explains the process of healing. In straightforward prose, step by step, Roberta Dolan provides readers with tangible healing strategies—including journaling, visualization, and more—that she employed during her own years in therapy for a childhood of sexual abuse. Inspiring and accessible, Say It Out Loud offers guidance and support for any kind of healing journey, equipping readers with the skills and courage to transform a life of darkness into one of joy. Author: Roberta Dolan Publication Date: October 7, 2014 -
Where Have I Been All My Life? is a compelling memoir recounting one woman’s journey through grief and a profound feeling of unworthiness to wholeness and healing. It begins with the chillingly sudden death of Rice’s mother, and is followed by her foray into the center of mourning. With wisdom, grace, and humor, Rice recounts the grief games she plays in an effort to resurrect her mother; her misguided efforts to get her therapist to run away with her (or at least accept her gifts); and the transformation of her husband from fantasy man to ordinary guy to superhero. In the process, she experiences aching revelations about her family and her past—and realizes what she must leave behind, and what she can carry forward with her. Poignant, tender, and sometimes hilarious, Where Have I Been All My Life? is Rice’s universally relatable story of how she found sustenance for the difficult—but vital—journey toward love and wholeness in an unexpected place: herself. Author: Cheryl Rice Publication Date: October 7, 2014 -
Gold Medal Winner, Autobiography/Memoir, 2015 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards “Gardner has written a rich, haunting book that vividly captures her childhood and makes everyday turmoil vital through precise and honest prose.” —Publishers Weekly, July 2014 A father makes the fateful decision to leave a successful career in the US behind and move to an isolated beach in the Dominican Republic. He plants ten thousand coconut seedlings, transplants his wife and two young daughters to a small village, and declares they are the luckiest people alive. In reality, the family is in the path of hurricanes and in the grip of a brutal dictator, Rafael Trujillo—and the children are additionally under the thumb of an increasingly volatile and alcoholic father. Set against a backdrop of shimmering palms and kaleidoscope sunsets, The Coconut Latitudes is Rita Gardner’s compelling memoir of a childhood in paradise, a journey into unexpected misery, and a twisted path to redemption and truth. Author: Rita Gardner Publication Date: September 16, 2014
