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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 -
Born of illustrious New England stock, Rachel Field was a National Book Award–winning novelist, a Newbery Medal–winning children’s writer, a poet, playwright, and rising Hollywood success in the early twentieth century. Her light was abruptly extinguished at the age of forty-seven, when she died at the pinnacle of her personal happiness and professional acclaim. Fifty years later, Robin Clifford Wood stepped onto the sagging floorboards of Rachel’s long-neglected home on the rugged shores of an island in Maine and began dredging up Rachel’s history. She was determined to answer the questions that filled the house’s every crevice: Who was this vibrant, talented artist whose very name entrances those who still remember her work? Why is that work—so richly remunerated and widely celebrated in her lifetime—so largely forgotten today? The journey into Rachel’s world took Wood further than she ever dreamed possible, unveiling a life fraught with challenge, and buried by tragedy, and yet incandescent with joy. The Field House is a book about beauty—beauty in Maine island landscapes, in friendship, love, and heartbreak; beauty hidden beneath a woman’s woefully unbeautiful exterior; beauty in a rare, delightful spirit that still whispers from the past. Just listen. Publication Date: May 4, 2021 Author: Robin Clifford Wood -
Can a mother be both loving and selfish? Caring and thoughtless? Deceitful and devoted? These are the questions that fuel psychologist Dr. Judy Rabinor’s quest to understand her ambivalence toward her mother. While leading a seminar exploring the importance of the mother-daughter relationship, Dr. Judy Rabinor, an eating disorder expert, is blindsided by a memory of a childhood trauma. Realizing how this buried trauma has resonated through her life, she sets off to heal herself. The Girl in the Red Boots weaves together tales from Rabinor’s psychotherapy practice and her life, helping readers understand how painful childhood experiences can linger and leave emotional scars. In the process, Rabinor traces her own journey becoming a wounded healer and ultimately making peace with her mother, and herself. Not a traditional self-help book outlining “steps” to reconcile or forgive one’s mother, The Girl in the Red Boots is a poignant memoir filled with hard-won life lessons, including the fact that it’s never too late to let go of hurts and disappointments and develop compassion for yourself—and even for your mother. Publication Date: May 4, 2021 Author: Judith Ruskay Rabinor, PhD -
Edna and Leo, a perpetually waring, tyrannical pair in their 80s, begin wintering In Mexico, where they abandon their usual prudence to embrace adventure and a bevy of sketchy new friends. Soon, Edna adopts a pair of wacky, shyster builders whom she trusts over her own architect-daughter Elizabeth, and a farcical house results. Blithely indifferent to the calamities that result, the pair refuse all help from their too-compliant only child. Later, following her mother’s sudden death, Elizabeth’s wise, principled father attempts to fill his late wife’s shoes with a string of loopy, live-in housekeepers—with privileges, he hopes. Before it is over the Mexican escapade will bring down the kind of disasters commonly found in pulp fiction. Why can’t Elizabeth stop any of this from happening? No matter the madness, she cannot confront her parents any more than she ever could. In the end, the surprising way in which they come undone reveals just what they spent their lives trying to hide, thereby setting her free. Though unique in its loony details, Don’t Say A Word! will resonate with beleaguered adult-children everywhere who will recognize the special misery of watching, helpless, as stubborn, diminished parents careen precariously toward the end of life. Publication Date: May 11, 2021 Author: Elizabeth Roper Marcus -
Julie is adopted. She is also a twin. Because their adoption was closed, she and her sister lack both a health history and their adoption papers—which becomes an issue for Julie when, at forty-eight years old, she finds herself facing several serious health issues. To launch the probe into her closed adoption, Julie first needs the support of her sister. The twins talk things over, and make a pact: Julie will approach their adoptive parents for the adoption paperwork and investigate search options, and the sisters will split the costs involved in locating their birth relatives. But their adoptive parents aren’t happy that their daughters want to locate their birth parents—and that is only the first of many obstacles Julie will come up against as she digs into her background. Julie’s search for her birth relatives spans eight years and involves a search agency, a PI, a confidential intermediary, a judge, an adoption agency, a social worker, and a genealogist. By journey’s end, what began as a simple desire for a family medical history has evolved into a complicated quest—one that unearths secrets, lies, and family members that are literally right next door. Publication Date: May 11, 2021 Author: Julie Ryan McGue -
Janet Duffy, a spunky, seventeen-year-old Irish girl, is eager to start college—but instability between her alcoholic father and self-absorbed mother jeopardize her dream, so she sets up her own apartment with her younger sister in Jamaica, Queens, and treks to City College in Manhattan, New York. The routine is deadening, but she finds purpose in the black community, working for a mural painter and volunteering for a civil rights activist. After turning eighteen, Janet marches with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and falls for a young black saxophone player, Carmen. Her father, a policeman, explodes over their relationship, so Janet rebels—runs away with the jazz musician, and then winds up in the East Village in the Summer of Love. In the ensuing months she deals with heartbreak, sexual harassment, poverty, and danger—but eventually, she asks for the help she needs in order to pick up the pieces of her life and return to her dream. Publication Date: July 27, 2021 Author: Janet Luongo -
Hope Is a Bright Star is the story of a mother’s journey from shock and fear at her young daughter’s cancer diagnosis to anguish and despair at her death just a year later—and, finally, to peace and acceptance of her new life. When thirteen-year-old Elizabeth is diagnosed with a rare bone cancer, Faith is in awe of her courageous child, who faces her plight straight on and inspires all who meet her. Despite an army of medical professionals who provide innovative care for Elizabeth, she dies, and Faith and her surviving daughter, Olivia, are thrown into a maelstrom of grief. They find unexpected comfort in the arms of their family, friends, and community—but Faith faces another shock when she has her own cancer diagnosis while navigating the uncharted waters of a life she never expected. In time, Faith discovers moments and places of comfort and peace, and she slowly changes from a mother in despair to a woman with hope for the future. At turns heartbreaking and heartwarming, Hope Is a Bright Star reveals how abiding love can heal a family. Publication Date: June 8, 2021 Author: Faith Fuller Wilcox -
Serious Little Catholics follows Kathy Gereau, the oldest of seven children, as she grows up in the mid-’50s and ’60s and makes her way through Catholic school alongside her siblings. Initially, she buys into the mysteries of faith and the litany of rules being spouted by the Sisters of Mercy. But when her fourth grade teacher tells the class that Kathy’s sweet little Protestant grandmother would never be admitted into heaven, she begins to question the rigid dogma of the church. Later, she discovers that not all boys are as goofy as her brothers and struggles with the notion that it is a woman’s responsibility to discourage men from the plague of impure thoughts. Even an innocent flirtation can sinfully lead men into a temptation they are not capable of resisting; it doesn’t seem fair. Ultimately, with the help of her classmates and a few understanding teachers, she learns to laugh at the ridiculous bits of her religion—and discovers the spiritual message within. Publication Date: June 8, 2021 Author: Kathy Gereau -
As Diana surveyed her newborn baby's face, languid body, and absent cry, she knew something was wrong. Then the doctors delivered devastating news: her first child, Emma, had been born with a rare genetic disorder that would leave her profoundly physically and intellectually disabled. Diana imagined life with a child with disabilities as a dark and insular one—a life in which she would be forced to exist in the periphery alongside her daughter. Convinced of her inability to love her “imperfect” child and give her the best care and life she deserved, Diana gave Emma up for adoption. But as with all things that are meant to be, Emma found her way back home. As Emma grew, Diana watched her live life determinedly and unapologetically, radiating love always. Emma evolved from a survivor to a warrior, and the little girl that Diana didn’t think she could love enough rearranged her heart. In her short eighteen years of life, Emma gifted her family the indelible lesson of the healing and redemptive power of love. This is a mother’s requiem to her perfectly imperfect child—a child who left too soon, but whose lessons continue to inspire a life lived and loved. Publication Date: June 15, 2021 Author: Diana Kupershmit -
Laurie James spent most of her life wondering what it means to belong; loneliness dictated the choices she made. She rarely shared this secret with others, however; it was always hidden behind a carefree and can-do attitude. When she’s in her mid-forties, Laurie’s mother has a heart attack and her husband’s lawyer delivers some shocking news. She suddenly finds herself sandwiched between caring for her parents, managing unruly caregivers, raising four teenage daughters, and trying to understand the choices of the husband she thought she knew. Laurie’s story is about one woman’s struggle to “do it all” while facing the reality that the “ideal life” and “perfect family” she believed could save her was slowly crumbling beneath her. Laurie tries everything to keep her family together—seeks therapy, practices yoga, rediscovers nature, develops strong female friends, and begins writing—but as she explores the layers of her life and heals her past, she realizes that she’s the only one who can create the life she wants and deserves. Sandwiched is a memoir about what it means to let go of the life you planned in order to find the life you belong to. Publication Date: June 23, 2021 Author: Laurie James -
When Pam Valois, a young photographer, met Jacomena Maybeck in 1979, she saw the woman she wanted to be in her own later years. Tarring roofs and splitting logs into her eighties, Jackie presided over the legacy of Bernard Maybeck and his clan on Berkeley’s legendary Nut Hill. The friendship between the two women led to a best-selling book—Gifts of Age, a treasury of stories about successful aging. Blooming in Winter is an intimate portrait of Jackie that gives us a paradigm for living exuberantly until the very end. Publication Date: June 29, 2021 Author: Pam Valois -
Since leaving home for Europe alone at age seventeen, Karen Gershowitz has traveled to more than ninety countries. In pursuit of her passion for travel, she lost and gained friends and lovers and made a radical career change. She learned courage and risk taking and succeeded at things she didn’t think she could do: She climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. She visited remote areas of Indonesia on her own and became a translator, though only fluent in English. She conquered her fear of falling while on an elephant trek in Thailand. And she made friends across the globe, including a Japanese family who taught her to make sushi and a West Berliner who gave her an insider’s look at the city shortly after the wall came down. An example that will inspire armchair travelers to become explorers and embolden everyone to be more courageous, Travel Mania is a vivid story of how one woman found her strength, power, and passion. Travel is Karen’s addiction—and she doesn’t want treatment. Publication Date: July 13, 2021 Author: Karen Gershowitz -
Odyssey of Ashes: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Letting Go begins with the sudden death of Cheryl Krauter’s spouse. Five months later, in a stroke of irony and magic, her husband wins a long-desired guided fly fishing trip in a raffle—and Cheryl decides to go in his place, fulfilling a promise to scatter his ashes by a trout stream. Part I of this memoir is an account of the first year after Cheryl’s husband’s death, where she becomes an explorer in the infinite stream of grief and loss, a time traveler between the darkness of sorrow and the light of daily life. Part II concludes with stories of the poignant and humorous adventures she had during the ensuing year. Tying it all together and woven throughout is Cheryl’s account of the creation of an altar assembled during the three-day ritual of Los Días de los Muertos. Poetic and mythological, Odyssey of Ashes is a raw story of loss and the deep transformation that traveling through darkness and returning to light can bring. Publication Date: July 20, 2021 Author: Cheryl Krauter -
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 -
Kim Fairley was twenty-four when she fell in love with and married a man who was fifty-seven. Something about Vern—his quirkiness, his humor, his devilish smile—made her feel an immediate connection with him. She quickly became pregnant, but instead of the idyllic interlude she’d imagined as she settled into married life and planned for their family, their love was soon tested by the ghosts of Vern’s past—a town, a house, a family, a memory. Shooting Out the Lights is a real-life mystery that explores the challenges faced in a loving marriage, the ongoing, wrenching aftermath of gun violence and the healing that comes with confronting the past. Publication Date: July 27, 2021 Author: Kim Fairley -
So much of our world today is crying out for welcome, refuge, and belonging. Homes with Heart is both inspiration and guide for people to create home in the world: first, through their own living spaces; second, within families of choice; and third, through supportive communities. While author Ruth Frost includes elements of home design, she also delves deeply into making home in the world through the power of love in community and offers practical tools to help people overcome obstacles associated with home living, such as homes obstructed by clutter, homes associated with traumatic events, or homes that need to support families in transition. Sharing both from Frost’s own life experience and that of others including children, refugees, trauma survivors, and home hospice patients Homes with Heart extends well beyond “bricks and mortar”; it deals with who we are and how we live in the world within and beyond the walls that shelter us, inspiring laughter and tears in equal measure. Publication Date: June 29, 2021 Author: Ruth Frost -
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 -
“For many volunteers, fundraising is a necessary evil, a dirty F-word that compels them to have uncomfortable conversations with their families and friends . . .” Through her work with countless female philanthropists, Diane Lebson discovered that there was no definitive guide volunteers and activists could turn to for guidance in navigating the day-to-day activities associated with doing good in the world—so she wrote one. Leveraging the skills and experiences she cultivated over more than twenty-five years as a nonprofit executive, board member, and consultant, For A Good Cause offers practical tips on how to “do” philanthropy. In chapters divided up by specific activities—such as serving on a board, advocating for a cause, starting your own philanthropic venture, becoming a fearless fundraiser, and more— Diane offers practical advice on how to professionalize your philanthropic engagement and make a greater impact. Rounded out with information about best practices, checklists, and profiles of inspiring leaders, For A Good Cause is the do-gooder’s go-to resource for giving joyfully. Author: Diane Lebson Publication Date: October 12, 2021 -
Wanting to understand how her path is tied to her mother tongue, Anne, a young, multiracial American woman, travels through China, the country of her mother’s birth. Along the way, she tries on different roles—seeker, teacher, student, girlfriend, artist, and daughter—and continually asks herself: Why do I feel called to make this journey? Whether witnessing a Tibetan sky burial, teaching English at a university in Chengdu, visiting her grandmother in LA, or falling in love with a Chinese painter, Anne is always in pursuit of intimacy with others, even as she is all too aware of her silences and separation. For two years, she settles into a comfortable routine in her boyfriend’s apartment and regains fluency in Chinese, a language she spoke as a young child but has used less and less as an adult. Eventually, however, her desire to know herself in other ways surfaces again. She misses speaking English, she feels suffocated by urban, polluted China, and she starts to fall for another man. Ultimately, Anne realizes that to live her truth as a mixed-race, bilingual woman she must embrace all of her influences and layers. In a world that often wants us to choose a side or fit an ideal, she learns that she can both belong and not belong wherever she is, and that home is ultimately found within. Author: Anne Liu Kellor Publication Date: September 7, 2021 -
Body art can tell personal stories.. When linked to a difficult or traumatic life, it can even restore one’s sense of well-being. As director of a community health center for twenty-seven years and as a nurse practitioner for over forty years, Donna Torrisi became fascinated with the stories behind her patients’ tattoos. When she began to ask her female patients about their markings, themes of trauma, pain, and loss emerged, and it became clear that the art indelibly marked on their bodies had played a part in their healing and redemption. The women featured in Tattoo Monologues demonstrate vulnerability and courage as they share both their personal tattoo narratives and photos of the images on their bodies. These women represent diverse cultures, ethnicities, and professional contexts, but they are united by their use of tattoos as a tool for processing traumatic life experiences. The images, stories, emotions, and journeys in this book collectively tell a compelling story. A story of skin and ink. A story of trauma and adversity. A story of courage and resilience. Author: Donna L. Torrisi, John R Giugliano PhD, Kenneth Kauffman Publication Date: October 19, 2021 -
Karen Grassle, the beloved actress who played Ma on Little House on the Prairie, grew up at the edge of the Pacific Ocean in a family where love was plentiful, but alcohol wreaked havoc. In this candid memoir, Grassle reveals her journey to succeed as an actress even as she struggles to overcome depression, combat her own dependence on alcohol, and find a loving relationship. With humor and hard-won wisdom, Grassle takes the reader with her through the sexual revolution and upheavals of the ’60s, to training at the famed London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, behind the curtains of Broadway, and onto storied Hollywood sets. We know Karen Grassle best as the actress playing the strong prairie woman Caroline Ingalls, but here is the complex, funny, rebellious, and soulful woman we didn’t know. Raw, emotional, and empathic, Bright Lights celebrates and honors womanhood, in all its complexity. Author: Karen Grassle Publication Date: November 16, 2021 -
If your mom is dead, is she still your mom? At twenty-five—nearly two decades after losing her mother to breast cancer as a little girl—an accident on a downtown street unleashes startling emotional reactions in Peg Conway, and this question starts to percolate. She comes to understand what she’s experiencing as long-buried childhood grief, and as she marries and becomes a mother herself, Peg’s intense feelings challenge her to offer herself compassion. Gradually she confronts how growing up surrounded by silence in a family that moved on from sorrow had caused her to suppress her mother’s memory for far too long. Ultimately, after excavating all the layers, Peg finds her mom again, and in the process discovers that truth, no matter how painful, heals. Author: Peg Conway Publication Date: November 9, 2021 -
What does a free-spirited, fifty-something professional do when she breaks up with her non-committal Buddhist boyfriend and longs for a life partner? She holds a ‘letting go’ ceremony with the boyfriend, challenges herself to go on 50 dates, takes a few lovers, and voila! Finding Mr. Right becomes a sexy dating project. Set in the SF Bay Area world of personal growth workshops and spiritual ceremonies, Fifty First Dates after Fifty traces the adventurous path of Carolyn’s universal quest for love. The goal of fifty pulls her forward through the highs and lows of dating—magical and ecstatic, pining and painful—while her heart soars, falls, and keeps on going. Buoyed by her dating project, she avoids settling for the wrong guy, discovers the type of man she wants, reconciles a love of independence and sex with her desire for commitment and emotional connection, and finds the unique partner for her. This upbeat memoir about the search for a partner in midlife is also a celebration of a woman’s unabashed sexuality. Erotic in places, funny in others, it offers a positive view of dating as an enjoyable journey of self-discovery and self-love along the way to one’s own Mr. Right. Author: Carolyn Lee Arnold Publication Date: November 2, 2021 -
Love across cultures is tested when Antonio, a penniless university student, and Evelyn, a strong-willed Peace Corps volunteer, succumb to their attraction to one another at the end of her two-year commitment in Peru and Evelyn gets pregnant. Deeply in love, the twenty-three-year-olds marry in Cusco—and decide to begin their married life in Northern California. Evelyn, like most wives of the ’60s and ’70s, expects her husband to support their family. And Antonio tries to take his place as head of the household, but he must first learn English, complete college, and find an adequate job. To make ends meet, Evelyn secures full-time positions, leaving their infant son in the care of others, and they both go on to attend college—she for two years, he for six. Then Antonio is offered a full-time professorship at the university he attended in Peru, and he takes it—leaving Evelyn a single parent. Parenthood, financial stress, the pull of both countries, and long visits from Antonio’s mother threaten to destroy the bonds that brought them together. Clear-eyed and frank, Love in Any Language illustrates the trials and joys in the blending of two cultures. Author: Evelyn Kohl LaTorre Publication Date: September 28, 2021 -
Allison Hong is not your typical fifteen-year-old Taiwanese girl. Unwilling to bend to the conditioning of her Chinese culture, which demands that women submit to men’s will, she disobeys her father’s demand to stay in their faith tradition, Buddhism, and instead joins the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then, six years later, she drops out of college to serve a mission—a decision for which her father disowns her. After serving her mission in Taiwan, twenty-two-year-old Allison marries her Chinese-speaking American boyfriend, Cameron Chastain. But sixteen months later, Allison returns home to their Texas apartment and is shocked to discover that, in her two-hour absence, Cameron has taken all the money, moved out, and filed for divorce. Desperate for love and acceptance, Allison moves to Utah and enlists in an imaginary, unforgiving dating war against the bachelorettes at Brigham Young University, where the rules don’t make sense—and winning isn’t what she thought it would be. Author: Allison Hong Merrill Publication Date: September 21, 2021 -
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 -
After her parents’ divorce, seven-year-old Sophia is raised by her paternal grandmother and, later, her father’s second wife. She visits her mother on weekends until she finishes her high school, after which she moves to the US to complete her post-secondary studies and launch a career in child welfare. Decades later, Sophia travels back to Greece, determined to find her mother’s grave and finally learn about the reasons for her parents’ divorce. As she digs, she begins to realize how clashing cultures between her Greek-born mother and her father’s early years in Turkey wreaked havoc on the marriage. Determined to unlock the true story, she interviews family members, all of whom are sympathetic but reluctant to disclose information. Finally, she hires an attorney and resorts to document searching—and uncovers a story she never knew existed. Written with illuminating insights and a mature understanding of what forced her mother’s decision to abandon their home, Sophia’s compassionate, authentic recounting of her journey will encourage those who search for the truth to persist in seeking answers to life’s unanswered questions. Author: Sophia Kouidou-Giles Publication Date: September 7, 2021 -
Our Divide: Two Sides of Locked in Syndrome is the story of the other side, the side of LaDonna the pregnant wife of Cleve, who at age twenty-seven, is struck down by an obstruction in the brain stem leaving him with locked-in syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes most victims to remain mute and paralyzed. Unlike Jean-Dominique Bauby (1997) in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Cleve “locked in” his unresponsive body is unable to sit up in a wheel chair or communicate by blinking an eye. Our Divide is a beautifully written, honest accounting of the experience of a family member watching a loved one suffer. Harrison delivers both a peek into the world of a unique other and an intimate view of one young woman’s grieving process. This heart-breaking story braids a grief narrative, coming of age and survival narrative into the memoir genre, creating a genuine, honest portrayal of one woman’s mistakes and courage while learning how to take responsibility and create a life for herself. This memoir embraces sadness and trauma, life lessons, love and hope. Readers will be swept away. Author: LaDonna Harrison Publication Date: August 10, 2021 -
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 -
What do we do when life ends? How do we honor the past while moving into an unimaginable, uncertain future? This tender, bracingly honest memoir explores how Jenny, a young widow, navigates the sudden loss of Tris, her beloved spouse of eighteen years. With Tris gone, Jenny suddenly finds herself a single mom to a teen daughter and adult stepson. The newly splintered family finds ways to celebrate “milestone firsts” —including birthdays and other holidays that, without Tris, now feel hollow and bittersweet. Jenny finds herself drawn to new people, including other widows and psychic mediums, and becoming open to different kinds of connections based on sharing and spirituality. She also embarks on a halting quest for new romantic love. Initially, as she endures awkward first dates and unpleasant interactions with self-proclaimed “nice guys,” she resists her new reality —but over time, she finds someone unexpectedly comforting, blending the pain of loss with the pleasure of closeness. For readers who have also lost a loved one, The Good Widow offers both a comforting guide to grief and a form of companionship; for everyone, it’s a beautiful example of how even after death, love endures. Author: Jennifer Katz Publication: August 10, 2021 -
In 1977, Jeanne’s German nationalist ex-husband, Klaus, tells her he’s gotten a new job and wants to take their three-year-old daughter and six-year-old son away for a long weekend to celebrate. Jeanne relents. But Klaus never returns and instead sends Jeanne a letter, delivered by a mutual friend, in which he declares that he has fled to Germany and she will never see him, or her children, again. The next four months are filled with agony, despair, and anger as Jeanne seeks legal support but quickly learns that federal parental kidnapping laws will offer her little help. She reflects on her tumultuous ten-year marriage to Klaus and the unsettling events that followed their divorce. A product of the patriarchal culture of the 1950s, Jeanne’s nice-girl mentality is being tested and reshaped by the feminist movement of the 1970s, and she finds that the kidnapping ultimately becomes a doorway to unexpected strength. You’ll Never Find Us is the story of a young mother coming into her own power, regardless of past mistakes, bad judgment, and fears; the story of a woman who realizes she must tap into her newfound resilience and courage to find her stolen children—and steal them back. Author: Jeanne Baker Guy Publication Date: August 17, 2021 -
A PopSugar Best New Books of 2021 Selection Weed inspires her. Acid shows her another dimension. Ecstasy releases her. Nitrous fills her with bliss. Cocaine makes her fabulous. Mushrooms make everything magical. Special K numbs her. Crystal meth makes her mean. Sixteen-year-old Samantha, raver extraordinaire, puts the “high” in high school. A ’90s time capsule buried inside a coming-of-age memoir set against the neon backdrop of the San Francisco Bay Area's rave scene, Raver Girl chronicles Samantha’s double life as she teeters between hedonism and sobriety, chaos and calm, all while sneaking under the radar of her entrepreneur father—a man who happened to drop acid with LSD impresario Owsley Stanley in the ’60s. Samantha keeps a list of every rave she goes to—a total of 104 over four years. During that time, what started as trippy fun morphs into a self-destructive roller coaster ride. Samantha opens the doors of her mind, but she's left with traumas her acid-fried brain won't let her escape; and when meth becomes her drug of choice, things get progressively darker. Through euphoric highs and dangerous lows, Samantha discovers she’s someone who lives life to the fullest and learns best through alternative experience rather than mainstream ideals. She’s a creative whose mind is limitless, whose quirks are charms, whose passion is inspirational. She’s an independent woman whose inner strength is rooted in unwavering family ties. And if she can survive high school, she just might be okay. Author: Samantha Durbin Publication Date: October 12, 2021 -
Leora, a juvenile court judge, wife, mother, and daughter, is caught in the routine of work, taking care of her family and aging parents, and playing it safe. But she’s also a second-generation Holocaust survivor. It’s an identity she didn’t understand was hers until she accidentally discovered a secret file of handwritten notes addressed to her father. A further discovery of a seemingly random WWII postcard in a thrift store sets her on a collision course with the past in this lyrical memoir about secrets hidden within secrets, both present-day and buried deep within wartime Europe. Author: Leora Krygier Publication Date: August 24, 2021 -
At age fifty, Susan Morris is diagnosed with breast cancer—and she’s floored. Desperate to pinpoint the cause, one night she decides to type a question into her search engine: “What are the risk factors of getting breast cancer?” She’s surprised to discover research showing that long-term exposure to stress and traumatic childhood experiences can both increase the risk of breast cancer. The Sensitive One is a braided memoir that alternates between Morris’s childhood—as a sensitive child and then teenager who shouldered the burden of caring for her younger siblings as her dad’s alcoholism tore at the threads of their home life—and an adult who for a decade-plus has been living a trauma-free life with a caring husband and rewarding career in nursing . . . only to be diagnosed with breast cancer. This is a story of redemption—of a woman who manages to escape harrowing circumstances and start anew—but it’s also a story of how our legacy lives within us, and how healing from the adverse effects of childhood can truly take a lifetime. Author: Susan F. Morris Publication Date: August 24, 2021 -
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 -
Melissa Harris’s dream of being a mother again shatters when a fertility doctor tells her she may never have another child due to a physical anomaly in her uterus. Determined to persevere, she undergoes nine surgeries and a year of fertility treatments until she finally gets a positive pregnancy test—only to miscarry both twins within the first fifteen weeks. When what she’s decided will be her last attempt results in her finally becoming pregnant, she’s told that this baby, Sam, is also at risk. While lying in a hospital bed for six days, trying to get to the golden standard twenty-four-week gestation mark, Melissa makes a decision—she will give this baby every chance to live, no matter what it takes. One Pound, Twelve Ounces is the journey of one mother’s determination to give her micro-preemie a fighting chance, and the story of that baby’s remarkable battle to survive. Author: Melissa Harris Publication Date: November 2, 2021 -
From an author of the best-selling women’s health classic Our Bodies, Ourselves comes a bracingly forthright memoir about a life-long friendship across racial and class divides. A white woman’s necessary learning, and a Black woman’s complex evolution, make These Walls Between Us a “tender, honest, cringeworthy and powerful read.” (Debby Irving, author, Waking Up White.) In the mid-1950s, a fifteen-year-old African American teenager named Mary White (now Mary Norman) traveled north from Virginia to work for twelve-year-old Wendy Sanford’s family as a live-in domestic for their summer vacation by a remote New England beach. Over the years, Wendy's family came to depend on Mary’s skilled service—and each summer, Mary endured the extreme loneliness of their elite white beachside retreat in order to support her family. As the Black “help” and the privileged white daughter, Mary and Wendy were not slated for friendship. But years later—each divorced, each a single parent, Mary now a rising officer in corrections and Wendy a feminist health activist—they began to walk the beach together after dark, talking about their children and their work, and a friendship began to grow. Based on decades’ worth of visits, phone calls, letters, and texts between Mary and Wendy, These Walls Between Us chronicles the two women’s friendship, with a focus on what Wendy characterizes as her “oft-stumbling efforts, as a white woman, to see Mary more fully and to become a more dependable friend.” The book examines obstacles created by Wendy’s upbringing in a narrow, white, upper-class world; reveals realities of domestic service rarely acknowledged by white employers; and draws on classic works by the African American writers whose work informed and challenged Wendy along the way. Though Wendy is the work’s primary author, Mary read and commented on every draft—and together, the two friends hope their story will incite and support white readers to become more informed and accountable friends across the racial divides created by white supremacy and to become active in the ongoing movement for racial justice. Author: Wendy Sanford Publication Date: October 5, 2021 -
In the late 1900s, Gordon Clark and his father, Si, sold their farm in rural Canada in search of the business of America. They found it in Seattle, Washington, and in 1929 Gordon and his brother Russ bought Genesee Coal and Stoker. Seattle life in the late 1920s was flourishing and businesses were booming —but within the year, the crash of the stock market would bring the Great Depression to the 1930s. Genesee survived, however, and during the 1940s, the Clark brothers adapted to the popular culture by adding heating oil to their coal service. The 1950s in Seattle spun good times for the heating oil business, but those happy days came to a screeching halt as competitive heating options arrived. The popular shift from heating oil to natural gas resulted in yet another change in business strategy for the second generation, led by Gordon’s son Don Clark. Through the decades that followed, Genesee Energy met each challenge, swaying with cultural and energy trends both locally and nationally. Now facing the current issue of climate change, Genesee Energy’s third generation, led by Steve Clark, is vectoring toward renewable energy to maintain its legacy. A narrative nonfiction saga of three generations of family, culture, and energy issues, Twentieth-Century Boys shows how relationships and values have carried one small company through near devastation time and again—from the 1920s to the present day. Publication Date: October 26, 2021 Author: Andrea Clark Watson -
“This glorious story of a life lived in love is the perfect read because it is hilarious, honest, and full of hope. Brava!” —Adriana Trigiani, best-selling author of Tony’s Wife In this laughter-through-tears memoir, Sallie Weissinger, a late-in-life widow, recounts the highs and lows of navigating the tricky online dating world of the 2000s. Interwoven throughout her adventures in search of a new relationship are stories from her childhood as a military brat, her southern heritage, her various marriages, and the volunteer work in Central and South America that helped her keep moving forward through it all. Weissinger keeps her sense of humor as she meets men who lie, men who try to extort money, and men with unsavory pasts. When she experiences even more loss, her search for a partner becomes less important, but—with the help of friends and dogs—she perseveres and, ultimately, develops her own approach to meeting “HIM.” Blending the deeply serious and the lighthearted, Yes Again shows us that good things happen when we open up our minds and hearts. Author: Sallie Weissinger Publication Date: October 26, 2021 -
Growing up in the ’50s in what was then the small town of Napa, California, Donna Brazzi had loving parents, a backyard the size of a football field with a swing and a big wooden picnic table perfect for summer barbecues, a cocker spaniel named Patty, and a cat named Stinky—everything a kid could want. She was a happy child. But as she grew older and started to reach for more than a young woman from a working-class, Swiss-Italian family was expected to want—a university education and a career in the larger world beyond her hometown—she began to see that if she was going to realize her big dreams, she was going to have to fight for them. Big Dreams is Donna’s story of pursuing her education goals while confronting society’s assumptions about women’s roles in work, marriage, and motherhood from the 1950s through the mid-2000s, helped along by the evolving social movements for equality. Her journey from obedient daughter to minister’s wife to PhD in sociology was never a smooth one—but ultimately, with passion and persistence, she broke free of the family and cultural assumptions constraining her, forged her own identity, and shaped the life she wanted. Author: Donna Brazzi Barnes Pub Date: April 5, 2022 -
When Laura Whitfield was fourteen, her extraordinary brother, Lawrence, was killed in a mountain climbing accident. That night she had an epiphany: Life is short. Dream big, even if it means taking risks. So after graduating from high school, she set out on her own, prepared to do just that. Laura spent her first summer after high school on North Carolina's Outer Banks, a magical few months filled with friendships, boys, and beer. There she met a handsome DJ who everyone called "Steve the Dream," and risked her heart. When September came, Steve moved to New York City to become a model, prompting Laura to start thinking about modeling, too. After just one semester of college, still seeking to fill the void left by her brother's death, she dropped out and moved to New York to become a cover girl. But while juggling the demands of life in the big city waiting tables, failed relationships, and the cutthroat world of modeling; she lost her way. A stirring memoir about a young woman's quest to find hope and stability after devastating loss, Untethered is Laura's story of overcoming shame, embracing faith, and learning that taking risks and failing can lead to a bigger life than you've ever dared to imagine. Author: Laura Whitfield Pub Date: April 5, 2022 -
After both her parents die, Linda Murphy Marshall, a multi-linguist and professional translator, returns to her midwestern childhood home, Ivy Lodge, to sort through a lifetime of belongings with her siblings. Room by room, she sifts through the objects in her parents’ house and uses her skills and perspective as a longtime professional translator to make sense of the events of her past—to “translate” her memories and her life. In the process, she sees things with new eyes. All of her parents’ things, everything having to do with their cherished hobbies, are housed in a home that, although it looks impressive from the outside, is anything but impressive inside; in short, she now realizes that much of it —even the house’s fancy name—was show. By the time Murphy Marshall is done with Ivy Lodge, she has not only made new discoveries about her past, she has also come to a new understanding of who she is and how she fits into her world. Author: Linda Murphy Marshall Pub Date: July 12, 2022 -
2023 Nonfiction Book Awards Gold Winner 2023 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Biography 2022 Foreword INDIES Finalist in Autobiography & Memoir—Adult Nonfiction 2022 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Honorable Mention in Non-Fiction—Autobiography 2022 IPPY Awards Bronze Winner in Autobiography II—Coming of Age/Family
“Sublime writing brightens an unforgettable, harrowing personal account.”—Kirkus Reviews “...a testament to the human spirit that will not be denied fulfilling its potential. Armento gives witness to the hard fact that we sometimes have to nurture ourselves and shows just how that can be done.”—Sue William Silverman, author of How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences THE STORY OF ONE GIRL’S SEARCH FOR HOPE IN AN ABUSIVE, DYSFUNCTIONAL HOME AND OF THE TEACHERS WHO EMPOWERED HER As the “Seeing Eye Girl” for her blind, artistic, and mentally ill mother, Beverly Armento was intimately connected with and responsible for her, even though her mother physically and emotionally abused her. She was Strong Beverly at school—excellent in academics and mentored by caring teachers—but at home she was Weak Beverly, cowed by her mother’s rage and delusions.Beverly's mother regained her sight with two corneal transplants in 1950 and went on to enjoy a moment of fame as an artist, but these positive turns did nothing to stop her disintegration into her delusional world of communists, radiation, and lurking Italians. To survive, Beverly had to be resilient and hopeful that better days could be ahead. But first, she had to confront essential ethical issues about her caregiving role in her family.
In this emotional memoir, Beverly shares the coping strategies she invented to get herself through the trials of her young life, and the ways in which school and church served as refuges over the course of her journey. Breaking the psychological chains that bound her to her mother would prove to be the most difficult challenge of her life—and, ultimately, the most liberating one. Author: Beverly J. Armento Pub Date: July 5, 2022 -
From the award-winning bestselling author of books about autistic and learning-disabled children, Mary MacCracken, comes an engaging memoir of love, marriage—and Alzheimer’s. Braving divorce to be together, Cal and Mary help each other overcome setbacks in their work. Cal’s inventions are increasingly successful; Mary’s first book is published to much acclaim, followed by three more. It seems nothing can stop them. Then Alzheimer’s strikes. Always a fighter, Cal vows to beat his disease, while Mary finds ways to sustain their loving life together, devising ways to help Cal as he falters. She herself is helped by good doctors, social workers, and many friends—a whole community of care. Still, all the support in the world can’t stop Cal’s decline. He goes missing at night, flees his daycare program repeatedly, and must finally go to a memory unit. But even then, he and Mary share bits of happiness. In the end, they fail to beat Alzheimer’s. Yet their story is also one of triumph, as their love persists all through and beyond their battle. Poignant and inspiring, The Memory of All That is a beautifully written love story that offers guidance and comfort to those dealing with dementia, or any of life’s challenges. Author: Mary MacCracken Pub Date: July 26, 2022 -
From the fall of 1918 to summer 1919, six YWCA women are attached to the North Russia Expeditionary Forces, an international military mission posted in the city of Arkhangelsk, North Russia. With this change, Clara Taylor’s second year working for the YWCA in Russia turns out to be vastly different from her previous year in Moscow. No longer teaching home economics or surveying factory conditions, Clara now finds herself dancing with soldiers at parties, then learning of their deaths in action the next day; reading to ill soldiers in the hospital; and serving hot coffee to ragtag men on the front lines of the Vologda railroad front in the bitter Russian winter. Throughout, she remains strong, courageous, and dedicated to her ideals of service. Even her own hospitalization for appendicitis does not stop her from supporting others in an untenable situation. Able to let loose about her own political views in these letters, Clara writes scathing commentary about the ineptitude of the military command. She also writes of the frozen landscape, the astounding beauty of the northern lights, homesickness, the strength of the Russian people, and, finally, the overwhelming joy of returning home to her family. Author: Katrina Maloney & Patricia M. Maloney Pub Date: July 26, 2022 -
This is the story of Rebecca Stirling’s childhood: a young girl raised by the sea, by men, and by literature. Circumnavigating the world on a thirty-foot sailboat, the Stirlings spend weeks at a time on the open ocean, surviving storms and visiting uncharted islands and villages. Ushered through her young life by a father who loves adventure, women, and extremes, Rebecca befriends “working girls” in the ports they visit (as they are often the only other females present in the bars that they end up in) and, on the boat, falls in love with her crewmate and learns to live like the men around her. But her driven nature and the role models in the books she reads make her determined to be a lady, continue her education, begin a career, live in a real home, and begin a family of her own. Once she finally gets away from the boat and her dad and sets to work upon making her own dream a reality, however, Rebecca begins to realize life is not what she thought it would be—and when her father dies in a tragic accident, she must return to her old life to sift through the mess and magic he has left behind. Author: Rebecca Stirling Pub Date: July 26, 2022 -
Kathy is a virgin in her twenties trying to navigate the blurred lines between sex and love even as outside forces attempt to detach her from her sexual autonomy. At home, her adoptive mother’s eyes investigate her body for evidence of sexual promiscuity and, despite her protests, she is called a putana; a whore for her perceived sexual debauchery. At work, meanwhile, she is sexually harassed by male managers who slap her butt, tell her they want Greek for lunch (wink, wink), and fill out recommendation forms about her sexy qualities. A young girl on the cusp of womanhood, she encounters a version of her self as men experience her: hyper sexualized and objectified. As if this is not enough, Kathy enters the dating scene in search of love only to find herself fending off young men who want her just for sex. In each relationship, Kathy uncovers her own strength and conviction as she fights for the kind of sex she wants instead of the kind of empty sex boys seem to require of girls. The more demands they make, the more determined she is to hold out for love even if it means losing a guy or going home single and alone. Raw and empowering, The Virgin Chronicles sends the message that love is worth waiting for and sex is better when it’s paired with self-actualization. Author: Marina DelVecchio Pub Date: April 26, 2022 -
As her sweetheart’s body lies cooling on the living room floor, Joni Sensel shattered but not surprised, revisits her premonition about this moment. From nearly the start of their fairytale romance less than four years ago, she knew she would lose Tony, the man she considered to be her soulmate. He was in great health, but fate had other plans a hard truth that visited Joni in the form of a startling vision during their second weekend together. Though she kept the premonition a secret while Tony was alive, upon his death she’s compelled to share it with his spirit in the form of a letter. A grief memoir with a paranormal twist, Feeling Fate explores how a dark intuition magnified Sensel’s love and gratitude in the time she and Tony had together before her premonition came true. Faced with evidence of a grand design alongside her grief, she’s torn between faith and skepticism. While she’s nearly undone by the pain of her loss, she eventually discovers that a sassy imagination and the irrational insights of the heart can both defeat despair and transform her grief into meaning. Author: Joni Sensel Pub Date: April 26, 2022 -
Beyond the Next Village is Mary Anne Mercer’s memoir of discovery, growth, and awakening in 1978 Nepal, which was then a mysterious country to most of the world. After arriving in Nepal, Mercer, an American nurse, spent a year traveling on foot often in flip-flops with a Nepali health team, providing immunizations and clinical care in each village they visited. Communicating in a newly acquired language, she was often called upon to provide the only modern medicine available to the people she and her team were serving. Over time, she learned to recognize and respect the prominence of their cultural beliefs about health and illness. Encounters with life-threatening conditions such as severe malnutrition and ectopic pregnancy gave her an enlightening view of both the limitations and power of modern health care; immersed in villagers’ lives and those of her own team, she realized she was living in not just another country, but another time. This unique story of the joys and perils of one woman’s journey in the shadow of the Himalayas, Beyond the Next Village opens a window into a world where the spirits were as real as the trees, the birds, or the rain and healing could be as much magic as medicine. Author: Mary Anne Mercer Pub Date: May 3, 2022 -
Mississippi, 1967. It’s the Summer of Love, yet unwed mothers’ maternity homes are flourishing, secret closed adoptions are routine, and many young women still have no voice. In You’ll Forget This Ever Happened, Laura Engel takes us back to the Deep South during the turbulent 1960s to explore the oppression of young women who have committed the socially unacceptable crime of becoming pregnant without a ring on their finger. After being forced to give up her newborn son for adoption, Engel lives inside a fortress of silent shame for fifty years but when her secret son finds her and her safe world is cracked open, those walls crumble. Are you still a mother even if you have not raised your child? Can the mother/child bond survive years of separation? How deep is the damage caused by buried family secrets and shame? Engel asks herself these and many other questions as she becomes acquainted with the son she never knew, and seeks the acceptance and forgiveness she has long denied herself. Full of both aching sadness and soaring joy, You’ll Forget This Ever Happened is a shocking exposé of a shameful part of our country’s recent past and a poignant tale of a mother’s enduring love. Author: Laura L. Engel Pub Date: May 10, 2022 -
The year was 1972. The place was rural Pennsylvania. Civil rights, the Vietnam War, and counterculture youth who were defying their traditional parents had the nation in social upheaval. Lynda was white, an anxious but earnest free spirit studying poetry, peyote, and peaceful protest at her small university. TJ was black, a talented athlete recruited from the inner city to win basketball games for Lynda’s hometown college. Their chemistry was irresistible, but their schools were hours apart—so, in the days before email, cell phones, and video chat apps to connect them, they reached out to each other in the only way possible: letters. Songs and prose penned late into the night revealed a longing that neither had felt before. TJ used music to show Lynda his sensitive side and deep desire for true love. Lynda strove to leave her conservative upbringing behind, to see truths beyond skin color and the pressure—for women, especially—to conform. But their connection, though deep, was also fragile. Racist parents, a jealous friend, and a prior lover who came back to claim Lynda ultimately unraveled the delicate fabric woven by their words. Now, four decades later, Lynda and TJ may have another chance. Can they take it? This sensual memoir by human sexuality professor Lynda Smith Hoggan lays bare the raw contradictions between social expectations and the heart’s desires—and leaves readers pondering what love might look like in a world where we are truly free. Author: Lynda Smith Hoggan Pub Date: October 11, 2022 -
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 -
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 -
When Caitlin Billings became a therapist, she did so with an intention to heal from her past. She wasn’t planning on a mental health relapse or an involuntary psychiatric hold. She was a mother now. A mental health professional. She thought the issues she’d faced in her past were dealt with, tucked away forever. She was wrong. Over the years, Billings contends with bipolar disorder while raising two children and fighting to regain her footing as a clinician. She feels she’s finally gotten a handle on her mental health when, on the cusp of adolescence, her elder child begins to struggle with disordered eating and depressive symptoms. Convinced that she is to blame for her child’s struggles, Billings pivots her attention to this new crisis, determined to keep it together for her family—but after it comes out that sexual abuse has taken place in their home, she questions her ability to protect her children and experiences a relapse. Amidst all this turmoil, her elder child also comes out as transgender, forcing yet another kind of reckoning. Billings must find a way to accept the many changes and unexpected challenges that have reared up in their lives—and, ultimately, to accept herself. Author: Caitlin Billings Pub Date: July 12, 2022 -
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 -
When the Sonoma Complex fire came to Elisa Stancil Levine’s California doorstep in 2017, her world changed overnight. The devastating fire torched thousands of acres, but for Elisa, a world-class decorative artist, it was her reaction that night that cracked her wide open. A loving wife, mother, and grandmother, Elisa thought she had reckoned with her early childhood trauma. But when she fled the midnight firestorm without alerting a single neighbor, she had to ask herself: Who does that? In This or Something Better, Elisa revisits her past and the one force in which she has always found true kinship: the wild river. Nature, her lifelong ally, gave solace. Through teen pregnancy, her baby’s stillbirth, and a mystical near-death experience at eighteen, nature shaped her character, and it later informed her wildly successful career. But was there an unintended consequence? The fresh trauma of the firestorm sparked a quest: what treasure awaited if Elisa learned to trust human nature? Vivid, poetic, and intimate, This or Something Better reveals how true healing of deep wounds happens one exquisite layer at a time—and invites us each to consider and embrace our own path toward wholeness and authenticity. Author: Elisa Stancil Levine Pub Date: June 7, 2022 -
Lucinda Jackson, a harried scientist and business executive, sets off to make a break from her corporate decades and have an “extraordinary” retirement. She launches into a five-phase “Project Escape,” complete with a vision, goals, and a scorecard of success to deliver this next chapter. Soon, Jackson and her semi-reluctant husband of thirty years are off to the Pacific island country of Palau. But while Jackson got the girl out of the corporation, even the jolt of Palau can’t fully get the corporation out of the girl. Struggling through self-examination around purpose, identity, ego, marriage, and parenthood after years of investing so much in career, Jackson learns who she is again. Whether you’re thinking ahead to retirement or are already there, Project Escape provides an unvarnished but ultimately encouraging reference in navigating the “post-career” era. Author: Lucinda Jackson Pub Date: April 12, 2022 -
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 -
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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 -
It’s 1953 in Southern California, Patty is five years old, and her mother hasn’t been home in two days. A police officer eventually arrives and takes Patty and her brothers to juvenile hall—their mother has been drinking again. Twenty-eight years later, Patty herself is an alcoholic mother to three children. Divorced and homeless, she soon realizes that she can’t support her children with her job cleaning houses, so she accepts the offer of a man who works at the gas station: she’ll have sex with him for money. For the next seventeen years, Patty lives a double life as a sex worker. Though she supports her family with the money she makes, she struggles to be the parent she wants to be, until she realizes she has become just like her own mother: an alcoholic who doesn’t give her children what they need. When Patty gets sober, her life begins to change. She finds healing through therapy, spirituality, community, and, most importantly, speaking the truth to her children. Powerful and insightful, Patty’s story is proof that we all are capable of healing ourselves—and that forgiveness can transform our lives completely. Author: Patty Tierney Publication Date: September 27, 2022 -
At seventeen, Barbara’s daughter Jennifer is in a horrific car accident and sustains a traumatic brain injury that sends her into a two-week coma. Once she awakens, a unique disability presents itself: Jenn lacks any traditional method of communication. Unable to speak or function on her own, Jenn must relearn basic life skills in a rehabilitation facility while Barbara and her family struggle to piece together their lives, now forever changed. When it becomes clear that Barbara and her husband cannot care for Jenn on their own, they move her to a group home. Over time, three creative, lighthearted women become Jenn’s caregivers, and with their support Jenn reenters the community and experiences travel and adventure, all while capturing the hearts of those around her with her engaging and quirky personality. Despite her disability, Jenn connects with everyone in her life. And Barbara ultimately realizes that Jenn’s lack of language doesn’t stop her from having a voice. A touching memoir that strikes a delicate balance between sorrow and joy, heartbreak and triumph, More Than You Can See is Barbara’s story of moving beyond tragedy and discovering profound and fulfilling life lessons waiting for her on the other side. Author: Barbara Rubin Publication Date: October 4, 2022 -
María Isidra is a proper Catholic girl raised in 1960s Spain by a strong matriarch during a repressive dictatorship. Early sexual trauma and a hefty dose of fear keep her in line for much of her childhood, but also lead her to live a double life. In her home, there is no discussing the needs of her growing body. In the street, kissing in public is forbidden. Upon the dictator’s death in 1975, Spain bursts wide open, giving way to democracy and a cultural revolution. Barcelona’s vibrant downtown and its new freedoms seduce María Isidra. She dives into a world of activism, communal living, literature, counterculture, open sexuality, and alcohol. And yet she knows something is missing. Longing to reconnect with her body—from which she has felt estranged since childhood—she finds a surprising home in a rundown salsa club, where the lush rhythm sparks a deep wave of healing. Transformed, she sets off on a series of sexual and romantic misadventures, in search for what she has always found painfully elusive: true intimacy. Author: Isidra Mencos Publication Date: October 11, 2022 -
Alan and Joanne marry in midlife and live a happily-ever-after existence until, at sixty-nine, Alan is diagnosed with a rare, fatal, neurodegenerative illness. As he becomes increasingly disabled and dependent on others, and decreasingly able to find joy in life, he decides he wants to end his suffering using Colorado’s Medical Aid in Dying law. Joanne desperately wants Alan to live, but when he asks for her help completing the Medical Aid in Dying application, she can’t say no. She helps him complete the requirements, hoping deep down that his application will be denied . . . only to be stunned when his medical team approves his request and writes him a prescription for the life-ending drugs. Told with affection and spiced with humor, Walking Him Home is Joanne’s tale of coming to terms with her kind, funny husband’s illness; of learning to navigate the intricate passageways of caregiving and the pitfalls of our medical system; and of choosing to help Alan in his quest to die with dignity, even though she wants nothing more than to grow old with him. Tender and heartfelt, this is one woman’s story about loving extravagantly—and being loved in kind. Author: Joanne Tubbs Kelly Publication Date: August 9, 2022 -
What if you set out to travel the world and got sidetracked in a Himalayan sewing workshop? What if that sidetrack turned out to be your life’s path—your way home? Part art book, part memoir, part spiritual travelogue, Threads of Awakening is a delightful and inspiring blend of adventure and introspection. Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo shares her experience as a California woman traveling to the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India to manage an economic development fund, only to wind up sewing pictures of Buddha instead. Through her remarkable journey, she discovered that a path is made by walking it—and that some of the best paths are made by walking off course. For over 500 years, Tibetans have been creating sacred images from pieces of silk. Much rarer than paintings and sculptures, these stitched fabric thangkas are among Tibet's finest artworks. Leslie studied this little-known textile art with two of its brightest living masters and let herself discover where curiosity and devotion can lead. In this book, she reveals the unique stitches of an ancient needlework tradition, introduces the Buddhist deities it depicts, and shares insights into the compassion, interdependence, and possibility they embody. Author: Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo Publication Date: August 23, 2022 -
In 1970s Cincinnati, Kim’s overwhelmed, financially stressed parents dragged her and her four younger siblings into swimming—starting with a nearby motel pool—as a way to keep them occupied and out of their way. When Kim was eleven, they began leaving the kids at home with a sitter while they traveled the Midwest, where they sold imported wooden ornaments from their motorhome. But when Kim’s six-year-old brother crashed his new Cheater Slick bike and the babysitter deserted the children, what started as an accident became a pattern: Mom and Dad leaving for weeks at a time and the kids wrestling with life’s emergencies on their own. As Kim coped in the role of fill-in mother while dealing with the stresses of elite swimming, she struggled to shape her own life. She eventually found strength, competence and achievement through swimming—and became the second female swimmer to win a full ride to the University of Southern California, where she earned two national titles. Swimming for My Life is a peek into the dark side of elite swimming as well as a tale of family bonds, reconciling with the past, and how it is possible to emerge from life’s toxic and lifesaving waters. Author: Kim Fairley Publication Date: October 11, 2022 -
What was it like to survive an illegal abortion, come out as a lesbian, and train to become a doctor in the late 1960s and early ’70s—before Roe v. Wade, before Title IX, and in a largely homophobic nation? In this unflinching and riveting coming-of-age memoir, Patricia Grayhall battles sexism in a male-dominated profession. She plunges into a life that is never boring—and certainly never without passion. Tossed around in the rough seas of medical training, chronically exhausted and emotionally drained, Patricia chafes at the toxic masculinity of the culture of medicine, facing many of the same issues women face in male-dominated fields today. Although the sexual revolution and women’s movement in 1970s Boston celebrate women's desire, one barrier after another prevents Patricia from finding the supportive long-term relationship she yearns for. Will she risk her career to find the love she seeks? “Inspiring, heartfelt, and brutally honest . . . this is a book that will give women and those who care about them the strength and motivation to persevere. . . . ” —Seattle Book Review This book, named one of Kirkus Reviews’s Best 100 Indie Books of 2022, is the inspiring true story of how one woman navigates these stormy seas without signposts to reach her goals—often battered, but never broken. Author: Patricia Grayhall Publication Date: October 11, 2022 -
In this no-holds-barred, provocative book, Terri Laxton Brooks tells a story that often remains hidden— that of a successful professional who has many friends and family and yet all her life has struggled with a loneliness she’s never revealed to anyone. Terri thinks her feelings of isolation will end with her marriage to her childhood sweetheart and their move from a farm town to the city of Chicago. But once the sheen of newlywed passion wears off, her husband, by nature reticent, grows even more emotionally distant. In her new job as a reporter for a Chicago paper, Terri hides her loneliness under a flurry of bylines and deadlines. But she can’t shake a feeling she’s had since childhood—of failure to connect, not just as a wife but also as a daughter, friend, and colleague—and soon she and her husband separate. Adrift, Terri contemplates suicide. Could a move to different city, to a fresh start, solve her problem? Terri’s decision to transplant herself to New York City forces her hand in a way she never imagined: it plunges her into a loneliness so total that out of desperation she grabs the key to her own salvation— ; love of interviewing, researching, hearing people’s stories. After starting therapy, her curiosity leads her into four years of soul-searching conversations with America’s leading psychologists and psychiatrists about how to cope with loneliness, why it is a normal and necessary stage of healthy growth, and how to stop resisting it. She explores with growing understanding intimate details of her dreams, her past traumas, and her role in her own loneliness—and learns not only how to live comfortably with that loneliness but how to use it to her advantage. Author: Terri Laxton Brooks Publication Date: November 29, 2022 -
Eddy Ancinas and her friends set out on on a seven-day horseback trip that takes them over Peru’s rugged terrain to 20,574-foot-high Mt. Salcantay, along an ancient Inca route, and then down into the jungle. During this journey, these fifty-something travelers are challenged by events they never imagined possible: a fall from a horse that results in serious injuries, a train strike that leaves them stranded in a remote village, an eight-hour trek on railroad tracks along the Urubamba River, and a moonlight ride in the back of a truck with questionable brakes on a dirt road over a 14,000-foot pass, among others. It is a journey full of mishaps—and yet Eddy is enchanted by the culture and places she experiences along the way. As she and her fellow travelers explore Lima, Cusco, and the markets, villages, and ruins of the Urubamba Valley, they are deeply touched by the people they meet, fascinated by the clues to an ancient civilization they learn to respect and admire, and enthralled by the spectacular setting where it all takes place: Andean Peru. Author: Eddy Ancinas Publication Date: September 20, 2022 -
“. . . makes you feel as though a kindred soul is speaking to you.” —Readers’ Favorite At the age of sixty, Gretchen Staebler promises to spend one year in her childhood home caring for her stubbornly independent ninety-six-year-old mother—sort of a middle-aged gap year. Then her mother will move to assisted living and she will return to her own independent life. It doesn’t go as planned. Rather than a retrospective, this mother-daughter story unfolds in real time with gripping honesty, bringing the reader along with the narrator through the struggle, doubts, and complexities of caregiving and daughterhood—and the beacons of light. Penetrating the fog of her mother’s advancing dementia and myriad health issues with humor, frustration, and compassion—and wine—Staebler slowly comes to accept and respect the mother she got, if not the one she wished for. In the process, she manifests non-negotiable self-care and learns more than she wants to know about aging, cognitive loss, and the healthcare system. Any reader who is looking for a road map in caring for a family member, has ever had a mother, or is looking aging in the eye will find company on the journey in this candid, multi-award-winning memoir. Author: Gretchen Staebler Publication Date: October 18, 2022 -
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 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
