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2015/2016 Sarton Story Circle Winner in Memoir 2017 Independent Press Awards Winner in Relationships 2017 Reader Views Awards Winner in Best from West Pacific As a bereavement care specialist, Dr. Virginia Simpson has devoted her career to counseling individuals and families grappling with illness, death, and grieving. But when her own mother, Ruth, is diagnosed in 1999 with a life-threatening condition, Virginia is caught off guard by the storm of emotions she experiences when she is forced to inhabit the role of caregiver. In a quest to provide her mother with the best care possible, Virginia arranges for Ruth to move in with her—and for the next six years, she cares for her, juggling her mother’s doctor’s appointments, meals, medication schedules, transportation needs, and often cranky moods with her own busy schedule. In The Space Between, Simpson takes readers along for the journey as she struggles to bridge the invisible, often prickly space that sits between so many mothers and daughters, and to give voice to the challenges, emotions, and thoughts many caregivers experience but are too ashamed to admit. Touching and vividly human, The Space Betweenreminds us all that without accepting the inevitability of death and looking ahead to it with clarity, life cannot be fully lived. Author: Virginia A. Simpson Publication Date: April 5, 2016 -
"Maureen reminds us to pay attention and follow the signs and signals of the Universe that lead us to the life of our dreams. To remember, even in the midst of the depths of despair, that endings are always beginnings, that we are writing our own stories in collaboration with the Divine Creator that lives within us, to never give up when the chips are down, because the Goddess will burn down our limited expectations and deliver something bigger, badder, and bolder than we could ever dream of ourselves." —Cathy Richardson, lead singer Jefferson Starship This story begins with an ending: the day Maureen Muldoon realized the devastating fact that her husband was having an affair—and leaving her for Miss Universe. Miss freaking Universe! How does this even happen? An intimate examination of Muldoon’s unraveling in the face of this betrayal, A Spiritual Vixen’s Guide to An Unapologetic Life takes a fresh, funny and fearless look at loss, denial, anger, grace, and liberation. Muldoon reveals the strength that comes from facing one’s fears, the humor that arrives in the darkest hours, and the miracles that happen when you least expect them in this grand tapestry of tales from the dark side. Ultimately, with wit and wisdom, she walks herself out of hell in a pair of sexy stilettos and manages to do what the all the king’s horse and all the king’s men could not: she puts herself back together. And in doing so, she comes to find more beauty and strength in the fractured places than anyone would have ever imagined. Author: Maureen Muldoon Publication Date: November 20, 2018 -
“Michael's memoir, The Sportcaster's Daughter, cozies up to you and breaks your heart. It's a long, deep look at family dysfunction in the suburbs and the devastation of an unrequited love for a family. You'll find echoes of Karr and Walls--read it.” —Stephanie Jay Evans, author of Faithful Unto Death Cindi Michael appears to live a charmed life: she’s happily married, has a successful career, and is a loving mom to two wonderful children. Yet she longs for a father who hasn’t spoken to her in twenty years, and even secretly watches him on TV when the longing becomes unbearable. When Cindi was eleven, her father fought for sole custody of her and her siblings, raising three children on his own despite being a bachelor and rock ’n’ roll DJ in New York. But with his rising fame as the host of the popular show Sports Machine, his 80-hour-a-week work schedule, and his second marriage, the close relationship Cindi shared with her father began to crack; she did everything to earn his love and attention, but for perfectionist George, it was never enough—and when she was eighteen and a freshman in college, in a burst of anger he told her never to come home again. As the years went on, Cindi struggled to steel her heart while still remaining hopeful that they would one day reconcile, just as her father did with his own dad, and transcend painful family patterns that span generations. Candid, moving, and ultimately hopeful, The Sportscaster’s Daughter is a family story of forgiveness, faith, and strength. Author: Cindi Michael Publication Date: August 23, 2016 -
Following the unexpected death of her alcoholic mother, and worn down by the unceasing taunts of “bastard” from her hostile and mentally unstable stepfather, plucky sixteen-year-old Terry Sue sets out to find her biological father—believing this man, whom she has never met, could change her life for the better. But before she can find him, she must identify him, and the unfamiliar names on her birth certificate perplex her. She comes to realize that tenacity must run in her family, for as determined as she is to find her father, he appears equally determined to remain hidden. In The Strongbox, Terry Sue offers readers a forthright and inspirational account of her challenges, as well as her against-all-odds successes. This decades-long personal journey reads like a detective novel, full of setbacks, false leads, jaw-dropping discoveries, and heartening triumphs. The narrative’s twists and turns also pull back the curtain on many of today’s inconvenient truths: child abandonment, multigenerational alcoholism, sexism, economic inequality, domestic violence, mental illness, and illiteracy. Undaunted by the many blind alleys she encounters, Terry Sue forges on in her hunt for the loving care and emotional support she never received from her parents, and she ultimately finds it—but it arrives in forms she never expected. Author: Terry Sue Harms Publication Date: October 27, 2020 -
“I’ll kill the first person who comes through this door.” My father grips a baseball bat in his meaty hands. It is 1962 and Diane is three years old when her violent father moves their family—her, her pregnant mother, and her six siblings—to a remote farm in Upstate New York. There, she grabs the reader by the hand and takes them to the broken-down barns, barren fields, and rows of bunk beds in her rat-infested attic bedroom as she questions all that feels wrong about her new world. She watches her ever-pregnant mother grow emotionally colder with each new baby and wonders, Where is she when he swings his fists, his steel-toed boot, or a crowbar? Forced to perform adult manual labor in between the erratic beatings she and her siblings pound on one another to release their own aggressions, she asks herself, Is this what we’ve become? What I’ve become? Narrated in the ever-hopeful voice of a child, The Taste of Anger explores in raw, unflinching detail how years of isolation, oppression, and the threat of retaliation create an environment in which family secrets are guarded at all costs. Tension is palpable with the turning of each page, ensuring that the reader won’t let go of Diane’s hand until she gets an answer to her most urgent question of all: Who will rescue us? Author: Diane Vonglis Parnell Publication Date: June 25, 2024 -
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 -
When Linda I. Meyers was a little girl in the 1940s, she had a recurring dream: she was an astronaut, accidentally separated from the mothership, and doomed to float alone in the darkness of space until she died. Years later, when she became a psychologist, she realized that the dream harbored both the wish to detach from her mother and the fear that such a separation would mean death—a fear that was worsened by her mother’s constant threats that Linda and her father would be “the death of her,” and accusations that they “wouldn’t be happy until she was six feet under.” On December 17, 1970, Linda’s mother, for the fifth time that day, called her. Now twenty-eight and busy raising three little boys of her own, Linda began to feel like she was being dragged once again into the undertow of her mother’s depression, she did something she had never done before: she begged her to please let her go. The next day, her mother killed herself. Severed from the mothership, staggered by conflicting feelings of relief and remorse, and determined to give meaning to her mother’s death, Linda realized it was time to change her life—and she set out to do just that. Written with irony and humor as a series of stand-alone essays that build upon one another, The Tell is one woman’s touching, inspirational, and often funny story of Before and After—and, ultimately, of emancipation and purpose. Author: Linda I. Meyers Publication Date: June 19, 2018 -
In The Trail to Tincup: Love Stories at Life’s End, a psychologist reckons with the loss of four family members within a span of two years. Hocker works backward into the lives of these people and forward into the values, perspective, and qualities they bestowed before and after leaving. Following the trail to their common gravesite in Tincup, Colorado, she remembers and recounts decisive stories and delves into artifacts, journals, and her own dreams. In the process the grip of grief begins to lessen, death braids its way into life, and life informs the losses with abiding connections. Gradually, she begins to find herself capable of imagining life without her sister and best friend. Toward the end of the book Hocker’s own near-death experience illuminates how familiarity with her individual mortality helps her live with joy, confidence, and openness. Author: Joyce Lynnette Hocker Publication Date: May 15, 2018 -
Marianne Bohr and her husband, about to turn sixty, are restless for adventure. They decide on an extended, desolate trek across the French island of Corsica—the GR20, Europe’s toughest long-distance footpath—to challenge what it means to grow old. Part travelogue, part buddy story, part memoir, The Twenty is a journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe. From a chubby, non-athletic child, Bohr grew into a fit, athletic person with an “I’ll show them” attitude. But hiking The Twenty forces her to transform a lifetime of hard-won achievements into acceptance of her body and its limitations. The difficult journey across a remote island provides the crucible for exploring what it means to be an aging woman in a youth-focused culture, a physically fit person whose limitations are getting the best of her, and the partner of a husband who is growing old with her. More than a hiking tale, The Twenty is a moving story infused with humor about hiking, aging, accepting life’s finite journey, and the intimacy of a long-term marriage—set against the breathtaking beauty of Corsica’s rugged countryside. Pub Date: June 6, 2023 Author: Marianne C. Bohr -
Christina Vo has always struggled with the concept of “home.” The daughter of an emotionally distant father and a mother who died when she was just fourteen, she continues to grapple with that legacy of loss and her constant quest to, as a fortysomething, find a reconciliation with the shape her life has taken. In January 2021, feeling a call to be closer to the land, she decides to leave San Francisco—this time permanently, she hopes—and set off on a road trip with one of her closest friends, David. Christina and David begin their journey with an ayahuasca ceremony in Santa Barbara, then continue on to Ojai and ultimately Santa Fe—two magical lands that serve as deep portals for healing. Throughout their travels, Christina reflects on the recent and distant past: her relationships, her past experiences in Santa Barbara and Ojai (where she stayed for nine months around her fortieth birthday, two years ago) and her evolving understanding of her relationship with her parents. All the while, she ponders how the past has shaped her current identity as a single, childless, and motherless woman in her forties. Within the context of intimate friendship, she discovers how thin the veil between worlds can be, and gradually comes to realize that her mother’s spirit has accompanied her since day one of her journey. Deeply reflective and ultimately joyful, Vo’s memoir takes us on a journey between two worlds—the physical and the spiritual—that eventually brings her to a newfound understanding of how to deepen connections with others, as well as to a place of peace and home within herself. Pub Date: April 25, 2023 Author: Christina Vo -
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 -
There is a common belief that an ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness, as Diana did as a child and as an adult. Even as a young child, she endured and survived unspeakable traumas and adversities. As a national expert on child abuse and neglect, Diana English is uniquely qualified to write this deeply personal memoir. The Well of Sorrow follows Diana and her young siblings in their determination to survive the household their mother deemed “too violent” to stay in. Diana’s childhood is one of violence and trauma but also a story of healing and survival sustained by sibling connection, serendipity, random acts of kindness, grit, and a will to survive. Author: Diana English Publication Date: April 29, 2025 -
Born into a poor, immigrant family, Naomi B. Levine grew up in the Bronx and on Manhattan’s storied Lower East Side in an era when women were not encouraged to have lives of their own. Nevertheless, she managed to raise herself to prominence as a leader of Jewish affairs, champion of civil rights, and expert fundraiser. Poignant, direct, and inflected with Yiddishkeit, The Woman in the Room is the story of how Levine went from living in a crowded tenement with a shared bathroom to penning an amicus brief that was crucial in Brown v. Board of Education, assuming the Executive Directorship of the American Jewish Congress, and saving NYU from bankruptcy with the first billion-dollar capital campaign for a university. A lover of history, Levine describes not just her life but also articulates how the major historical events of the time emboldened her to take social and political positions that were in many circles unacceptable. She was an activist and a feminist before those concepts became part of our everyday parlance. The Woman in the Room not only illuminates the decades Levine lived but furnishes future generations with the strength and courage to face the challenges before them. Author: Naomi B. Levine Publication Date: July 2, 2024 -
The World Looks Different Now takes readers behind the statistics and into the private world of a family whose lives are forever changed following the suicide of the family’s older son less than three months before he was due to deploy to Afghanistan. A journalist as well as a grieving mother, author Margaret Thomson instinctively turns to writing during the weeks, months, and even years following her son’s death in an effort to make sense out of a seemingly senseless act that she never dreamed could happen. In The World Looks Different Now, she chronicles the grueling journey she and her husband, along with their surviving son, are forced to embark upon as they move toward eventual—if only partial—healing. Poignant and insightful, this memoir will help those who’s suffered a major loss to better understand the need to grieve at one’s own pace, as well as in one’s own individual way. Author: Margaret Thomson Publication Date: July 14, 2020 -
In May of 1976, twenty-four-year-old Carol Menaker was impaneled with eleven others on a jury in the trial of Freddy Burton, a young Black prison inmate charged with the grisly murders of two white wardens inside Philadelphia’s Holmesburg Prison. After being sequestered for twenty-one days, the jury voted to convict Mr. Burton, who was then sentenced to life in prison without parole. For more than forty years, Menaker did what she could to put the intensely emotional experience of the sequestration and trial behind her, rarely speaking of it to others and avoiding jury service when at all possible. But the arrival of a jury summons at her home in Northern California in 2017 set her on a path to unravel the painful experience of sequestration and finally ask the question: What ever happened to Freddy Burton—and is it possible that my youth and white privilege were what led me to convict him of murder? The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done is Menaker’s inspirational account of journeying back in time to uncover the personal bias that may have led her to judge someone whose shoes she never could have walked in. Pub Date: April 11, 2023 Author: Carol Menaker -
“What would you take with you if your house was about to burn? What would you regret leaving behind? Risa Nye's searing memoir of loss is ostensibly about objects―the pictures, the shoes, the beloved baby blanket―but it's really about the love that holds a family together in its darkest moments. Told with humor and grace, Nye's story demands that we each take a moral inventory, then hold on tight to what truly matters most.” —Zac Unger, Oakland firefighter, and author of Working Fire Less than a month before her 40th birthday, a devastating firestorm destroys Risa Nye’s home and neighborhood in Oakland, California. Already mourning the perceived loss of her youth, she now must face the loss of all tangible reminders of who she was before. There Was a Fire Here is the story of how Nye adjusts to the turning point that will forever mark the “before and after” in her life—and a chronicle of her attempts to honor the lost symbols of her past even as she struggles to create a new home for her family. Author: Risa Nye Publication Date: May 16, 2016 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
This intimate, poignant, and compelling memoir tells the story of a woman—a “reluctant examiner” of death—navigating grief while caring for her dying brother and aging parents, inviting the reader into a journey of hope, growth, and resilience. Deborah Cummins is “a stranger to death”—until, in 2007, she learns that her brother, Joe, is dying. In the months that follow, as Joe’s health declines, Deborah confronts hidden truths in an attempt to make sense of her brother’s death while he’s still alive—truths that, in retrospect, where perhaps not so hidden after all. But before she’s able to fully grasp her brother’s worsening condition, Deborah is confronted with another family crisis: between complications following a recent surgery and her heartbreak over her son’s condition, Deborah’s mother’s health is waning as well. After the death of her brother at only forty-five years old, her mother’s death shortly follows, and Deborah must navigate grief compounded. Spanning the country from a small town in Maine to the sprawling metropolises of Chicago and Phoenix, Threshold skillfully and poignantly examines familial relationships between child, parent, and siblings, providing evocative portraits of each. Author: Deborah Cummins Publication Date: February 3, 2026 -
Lynn watched her beloved Clare, newly adopted from Haiti, crawl the house in a frantic search for her lost mother. Preschool Clare enchanted with belly laughs and shining smiles. Also, thrashed and wailed in her room as Lynn crouched on her own bed—pillow clutched over her head—her past trauma triggered. A pre-teen trip to Haiti brought sunshine, ruby red hibiscus blooms, and the music of Haitian Creole. Back at home, Clare shattered mirrors into shards on the subway tiles of their bathroom. And just before her thirteenth birthday, as she and Lynn walked hand in hand through their neighborhood, Clare calmly detailed her plan to die.
Over the next years, Lynn and her family walked through psychiatric hospitals, along the Appalachian Trail, and in and out of residential placements, marriage, faith, and sanity barely surviving the journey. But then Lynn learned about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)—a source of neurodivergence in one in twenty American children—and discovered the FASCETS Neurobehavioral Model, a strengths-based approach to celebrating and accommodating neurodiversity. It was a discovery that transformed them all.
At times joyous, at times harrowing, but always full of love, Tinderbox is a mother’s story of brokenness, unrelenting resilience, and hope. Author: Lynn Alsup Pub Date: September 12, 2023 -
"In addition to being one of the finest pianists of her generation, Carol Rosenberger is also one of the most eloquent―as her new book triumphantly attests. Hers is an important and inspiring story, and she tells it superbly.” —Jim Svejda, commentator on KUSC radio, called “The High Priest of Classical Music” by the Los Angeles Times At age twenty-one, while she was working with the legendary Nadia Boulanger in France, concert pianist Carol Rosenberger was stricken with paralytic polio―a condition that knocked out the very muscles she needed in order to play. But Rosenberger refused to give up. Over the next ten years, against all medical advice, she struggled to rebuild her technique and regain her life as a musician―and went on to not only play again, but to receive critical acclaim for her performances and recordings. Beautifully written and deeply inspiring, To Play Again is Rosenberger’s chronicle of making possible the seemingly impossible: overcoming career-ending hardships to perform again. Author: Carol Rosenberger Publication Date: April 17, 2018 -
In 2018, Kathy Elkind and her husband decided to take a grown-up “gap year” in Europe and walk the 1,400-mile Grande Randonnée Cinq (GR5) across The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. At fifty-seven, Kathy has chosen comfort over hardship: Unlike the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Coast Trail, the GR5 winds from village to village instead of campsite to campsite. She and Jim get to indulge in warm beds and delicious regional food every night and croissants in the mornings. The GR5 is not all comfort. Walking day after day for ninety-eight days bring sickness, accommodation struggles, language barriers, and storm-shrouded mountains in the Alps. Meanwhile, Kathy finds herself reflecting on difficult topics—primarily, her struggles with dyslexia, overeating, and shame. But she also finds that the walking becomes a moving meditation and the beauty of the landscape heals; she begins to discover her own wise strength; and as the days unfold, she comes to the gratifying realization that a long marriage is like a long trail: there are ups and downs and it takes hard work to keep going, but the beauty along the way is staggering. Written with raw honesty and compassion, and rich with dazzling scenery, To Walk It Is To See It will inspire you to lace up your walking shoes and discover your own path. Author: Kathy Elkind Pub Date: August 15, 2023 -
Jane Pollak spent most of her life “looking for a family.” Raised by a mother who was emotionally unavailable, she grew up believing that love came from performance rather than from being seen, heard, and acknowledged for her true self. It followed that she married an extrovert who performed for his students and yet was unable to connect with his wife. In this poignant, instructive memoir, Pollak investigates the roots of misguided love and paints a picture of what it means to live a satisfied life. Her tale starts in the couples’ counseling office, where her soon-to-be ex-husband drops the bomb that he’s seeing someone else. From there, Jane goes on to find self-empowerment through her La Leche League group, her career as an artist, her travels around the world, her journey through twelve-step recovery, and her experiences while dating in her sixties. At last, she forges a blissful life on her own in Manhattan, conducting business and enjoying time with a committed partner. Inspiring and deeply relatable, Too Much of Not Enough Lessons I Learned to Become Myself is a primer on how to be the proactive agent of one’s own best path. Author: Jane Pollak Publication Date: April 30, 2019 -
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 -
Transister is the story of a family in transition. Not a prescriptive narrative but an affirming one. A raw, honest, sometimes humorous account of author Kate Brookes’s journey as her young child grapples with gender identity and becomes her authentic self. Brookes has longed to become a mother for as long as she can remember. And for almost as long, she has harbored a fierce determination to parent her children differently—better—than her own mentally ill mom parented her. To create the “normal” family she’s always wished for. And when she gives birth to twins after two years of fertility struggles, she is, admittedly, hugely relieved that she’s found herself with two boys. There will be no need for her, a decidedly un-girly girl, to braid hair, buy Barbie dolls, or pick out party dresses for her kids. Boys. Easy. Right? But by the time her twins are eight, Brookes has had two realizations: 1) her obstetrician’s “it’s another boy” announcement was flat-out wrong, and 2) there is no such thing as a “normal” family—and that’s a beautiful thing. Author: Kate Brookes Pub Date: August 8, 2023 -
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 -
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 -
In this lyrical and artfully woven memoir, a short road trip to California’s Central Coast becomes an epic journey through family history, loss, and connection. When three generations of women—a Gen X narrator, her seventy-seven-year-old mother, and her twenty-two-year-old Gen Z daughter—set out for a quick trip to California's Central Coast, what begins as a road trip soon transforms into something far richer: a modern-day Odyssey. Over the course of three days, the three women brave a severe winter storm, encounter ravenous ostriches, walk through an enchanted light exhibit, binge-watch White Lotus, hunt for coffee with plant-based milk, bicker, reconcile, and share stories. Troika braids the narrative of a three-day road trip with the longer strands of migration, memory, and motherhood, creating a layered meditation on distance traveled—geographic, generational, and emotional. The result is a kaleidoscopic journey that traverses the landscapes of identity and family history and stretches from the horrors of the second world war and an escape from Soviet Russia to adolescence and motherhood in the suburbs of Silicon Valley. As the narrative swerves from heartbreak to hilarity, from Homeric detours and Russian proverbs to internet memes, it weaves together an intimate, poignant, and darkly funny meditation on how we get from where we were to where we are—and what we carry with us along the way. Author: Irena Smith Publication Date: April 7, 2026 -
At first grateful to be able remodel the dining room of her family’s modest home in Connecticut to accommodate her eighty-six-year-old father for what everyone felt would be a short duration of care, Cindy Eastman ultimately experienced a whole gamut of feelings over the course of what turned out to be four years of caring for her dying dad. Caregiving impacts everyone, and this account—told in essays recorded before, during, and after the time Eastman’s father was with her—details that impact, not just on the primary caregiver but also the rest of the family.
One of the reasons Eastman committed to writing down her experiences was because she predicted that once her dad died, there would be a tendency to soften or even deny any of the negative and challenging times—and there were many. As of 2020, more than 53 million adults provide homecare in this country, and the reality of that arrangement is different for every family. It is not, as some might suggest, a “noble gesture” but rather an elegant conflict—an intricate reassembling of the family dynamic that many people don’t ever see coming. In these candid, often poignant essays, Cindy Eastman brings all the emotions of taking on the challenging responsibility of caregiving a parent at the end of their life to the surface.
Author: Cindy Eastman Publication date: September 17, 2024 -
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 -
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 -
What is it like to grow up as an adoptee and be raised with your identical twin? In this coming-of-age memoir, set in Chicago’s western suburbs during the 1960s to 1980s, adopted twin sisters Julie and Jenny become the oldest daughters in a big family made up of a mixture of adopted and biological children. The twins’ sisterly bond is tight as the two strive for individuality, identity, and belonging. But Julie’s parents’ continual addition of adopted and biological children to the family leads to a number of painful experiences: they encounter infertility, infant mortality, a child with special needs, and then, when Julie is sixteen, a sudden family tragedy. Faced with these challenges, Julie questions everything—who she is, how she fits in, the circumstances of her adoption, where she belongs, her faith and idea of family. As their family values, parental relationships, and sibling bonds are tested, Julie realizes her adoptive family is held together by love, faith, support, and her parents’ commitment to each other and family. But the life her parents have constructed is not one that Julie wants for herself—and as she grows older, she realizes how her parents’ goals and dreams differ from her own, and how the experiences that have formed her have provided a road map for the person and mother she wants to be. Author: Julie Ryan McGue Publication Date: February 4, 2025 -
“You can quit waiting for the other shoe to drop: I’m in it for life.” Those are the fateful, repeated words that help convince Kathryn Taylor to remarry, retire from her thirty-year profession, sell her home, and relocate in support of her new husband’s career. But five years later, in a car packed with food she has carefully prepared to nourish her husband’s dying brother, the other shoe does drop. Taylor’s husband unexpectedly proclaims he is, “done with the marriage and doesn’t want to talk about it.” With this, the life Taylor has come to know is over. Relying on the strength of a lifelong friend who refuses to let her succumb to the intense waves of grief, she slowly begins to find her way out of grief. Over the course of two years, through appointments with attorneys and therapists, purging shared belongings, and pushing herself to meet new people and do new things, Taylor not only regains a sense of control in her life, she also learns to enjoy the new life she has built, the friendships she’s formed―and to savor her newfound strength. Author: Kathryn Taylor Publication Date: November 6, 2018 -
“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 -
A birch tree grows tall and arabesque in the front yard of Nancy Chadwick’s childhood home. Over time the tree becomes her buddy and first learned connection, synonymous with home— and one spring morning, she makes a discovery under its boughs that foreshadows the many disconnections within her family, relationships, jobs, and home that are to come. Through the chapters in her life, Chadwick’s search for home carries her through with unflinching honesty, but in the end, it is a story of survival and triumph over adversity. She does not wallow in selfpity but remains tenacious as she examines her life. An exploration of what it means to belong, Under the Birch Tree is a success story of finding home. Author: Nancy Chadwick Publication Date: June 19, 2018 -
In the spirit of The Glass Castle and The Burning Light of Two Stars, Antonia Deignan delivers what New York Times best-selling author Julie Cantrell calls a “a heart-shattering memoir of painful truth and soulful healing.” As a child, Antonia perceived her father’s nighttime visits as special acts of love. On some deeper level, though, she knew what was happening wasn’t right. To escape, she began creating imaginary worlds and used dreams to transport her away from her fears. As she got older, Antonia traded those fantasies for dance—but despite her outlets she remained trapped underwater, without a lifeline to make her feel fundamentally safe. For years, Antonia silently navigated the dark fathoms of her internalized pain, which manifested in myriad self-destructive habits: disordered eating, drug and alcohol abuse. Only decades later, while recovering from a serious bike accident, did she finally stop running and start reflecting—giving her the power to fully accept what had happened to her in her early life and ultimately forgive the unforgivable. Raw and visceral yet gorgeously lyrical, Underwater Daughter masterfully conveys not only the rippling effects of childhood trauma but also the hope that with honesty and work, healing is possible. Pub Date: May 2, 2023 Author: Antonia Deignan -
While recovering from a near fatal illness, Nancy Pressly discovers a treasure trove of family material stored in her attic. Haunted by images of her grandparents and her parents in their youth, she sets out to create a family narrative before it is lost forever. It takes several more years before she summons the courage to reconstitute a path back to her own past, slowly pulling back the veil of amnesia that has, until now, all but obliterated her memory of her childhood. In this sensitive and forgiving meditation on the meaning of family, Pressly unravels family dynamics and life in a small rural town in the 1950s that so profoundly affected her—then moves forward in time, through to her adulthood. With an eye attuned to visual detail, she relates how she came into her own as a graduate student in the tumultuous sixties in New York; examines how she assumed the role of caretaker for her family as she negotiated with courage and resilience the many health setbacks, including her own battle with pancreatic cancer, that she and her husband encountered; and evokes her interior struggle as a mother as she slowly traverses the barriers of expectations, self-doubt, and evolving norms in the 1980s to embrace a remarkable life as a scholar, champion of contemporary art, and nationally recognized art museum strategic planning consultant. Full of candor and art-inspired insight, Unlocking leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the power of art and empathy and the value of trying to understand one’s life journey. Author: Nancy L. Pressly Publication Date: May 5, 2020 -
Unsexed examines the role that sex plays in the life of one woman with two mothers who introduce her to polarized frameworks of female sexuality. Born in Greece to a violent prostitute and then adopted by a cold and unloving virgin from New York, Marina inherits a sexual identity steeped in fear and shame—one that, as she grows older and becomes a wife and mother, trickles into her marriage and the parenting of her children. Without the tools needed to understand her complex mothers or the unpack the lessons they taught her, Marina relies on self-erasure to survive relationships that silence and define her—until she finally becomes fed up with those old patterns and begins to stand in her own power. A memoir that unearths the layered emotional and sexual lives of women and exemplifies the satisfaction that comes when they assert their voices and power, Unsexed speaks to millions of women who have different narratives but face similar struggles in reclaiming their voices, bodies, and sexuality. Author: Marina DelVecchio Publication Date: April 2, 2024 -
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 -
When pregnant Esther—a young, adventurous, British-born Israeli—follows her new husband, Steve, to America, she has no idea what she’s getting herself into. Even before their baby is born, Esther discovers the dark side of her charming film production manager husband, and learns that she must cope with his moodiness and domineering personality. Left alone day after day in a high-rise apartment in Queens, Esther struggles with culture shock, homesickness, and adapting her husband’s whims—like the baby goat he brings home to their eighth-floor apartment to keep as a pet. Ten years and two more children later, thirty-four-year-old Steve is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Despite aggressive treatments, he succumbs to the disease, leaving Esther to care for their three children alone, Esther at first feels lost and bewildered; as time goes on, however, she discovers that there is a freedom in her new situation—and that she has a greater inner strength than she ever before realized. Author: Esti Skloot Publication Date: August 20, 2019 -
2017 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Silver Medal for Memoir 2017 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist 2017 Independent Press Award Distinguished Favorite for Memoir When young Barbara Bracht’s mother disappears from her life (no one tells her that she has died), she is left a confused child whose blue-collar father is intent upon erasing any memory of his dead wife. Forced to keep the secret of her mother’s existence from her brother, Bracht struggles to keep from being crushed under the weight of family secrets as she comes of age and strives to educate herself despite her father’s stance against women’s education—a journey that culminates in a visit to her mother’s grave nearly twenty years after her death. Narrated in a precocious, fiercely intelligent, and compelling voice, Veronica’s Grave” A Daughter’s Memoir is a heartrending story about the psychological cost of families who keep secrets—and the importance of pursuing one’s dreams and passions. Author: Barbara Donsky Publication Date: May 10, 2016 -
In 1972, when she was a young, divorced, single mother, restless and idealistic, Elena Schwolsky made a decision that changed her life: leaving her eighteen-month-old son with his father, she joined hundreds of other young Americans on a work brigade in Cuba. They spent their days building cinderblock houses for workers and their nights partying and debating politics. The Cuban revolution was young, and so were they. At a moment of transition in Schwolsky’s’s life, Cuba represented hope and the power to change. Twenty years later, she is drawn back to this forbidden island, yearning to move out of grief following the death of her husband from AIDS and feeling burned out after spending ten years as a nurse on the frontlines of the epidemic. Back in Cuba, she experiences the chaotic bustle of a Havana most Americans never see―a city frozen in time yet constantly changing. She takes readers along with her through her humorous attempts to communicate in a new language and navigate this very different culture―through the leafy tranquility of the controversial AIDS Sanitorium and into the lives of the resilient, opinionated, and passionate Cubans who become her family and help her to heal. Author: Elena Schwolsky Publication Date: November 12, 2019 -
After growing up in abject poverty in a dysfunctional alcoholic environment and being terrorized by a boarder who lived in the root cellar, Athena Demetrios repressed her traumatic memories—thrusting her into a downward spiral of melancholy and despair. But when, as an adult, she had a powerful spiritual experience that opened doors into other dimensions, she began an odyssey in which truth became stranger than fiction—a journey through hypnotic regression that led her to transcendence and healing. Demetrios’s story of courage, mystical insight, and otherworldly guidance will open your heart and challenge your perception of the borders of our minds and the boundaries of our world. This is a tale of past-life visions, spiritual guides, and communication beyond death—and emergence into the radiant light of self-discovery, knowing, and being at peace with all that is. Author: Athena Demetrios Publication Date: April 30, 2019 -
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 -
2014 USA Best Book Awards: Nominee, Autobiography/Memoir Warrior Mother is the true story of a mother’s fierce love and determination, and her willingness to go outside the bounds of the ordinary when two of her three adult children are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases. When Sheila Collins’s best friend, dying of breast cancer, asked her to accompany her through what turned out to be the last fourteen days of her life, she didn’t know that the experience was preparing her for what laid ahead with her own children. In the years that followed, Collins had to face both her son’s diagnosis with AIDS and her daughter’s diagnosis with breast cancer. Warrior Mother documents how she faces these challenges and the issues accompanying them—from learning to be the mother of a gay son to visiting a healer in Brazil on her daughter’s behalf when she decides on bone marrow transplant treatment. Experience as a professional social worker and family therapist doesn’t always help Collins to cope with her children’s illnesses—but her relationship with improvisational song, dance, storytelling, and women’s spirituality rituals carries her through. Author: Sheila K. Collins Publication Date: August 6, 2013 -
Suzanne’s story begins with a phone call from her husband, Michael, telling her he has collapsed on the job. They soon learn he has multiple sclerosis. Despite the negative patterns threatening their marriage, she is determined to handle the caregiving tasks suddenly thrust upon her. Through love, psychological insights, and spiritual inquiry, she cultivates her abilities—and gains the courage to confront a medical system that often saves her husband but at other times threatens his life. As time progresses, Michael undergoes many hospitalizations; he also makes miraculous recoveries that allow adventure back into their lives, including a numinous experience with dragonflies. When Suzanne faces her own medical crisis, their world is shaken once again—but throughout it all, love is their bond, one even death cannot sever. In Watching for Dragonflies, Suzanne reaches out to other caregivers and anyone who has experienced a life-changing crisis, inviting them to explore the many avenues of growth and transformation that uninvited change can bring. Often poignant, at times funny, and always riveting, Watching for Dragonflies will bring comfort—and inspiration—to readers as they navigate their own transformative journey. Pub Date: June 6, 2023 Author: Suzanne Marriott -
Families who have supported a child with special needs will connect with this memoir about Sarah, a feisty girl with autism and a unique genetic blueprint. Her mom, Jenny, is equally feisty and determined, which leads her to make a commitment that dramatically changes her and Sarah’s lives—as well as those of many others. Sarah’s early years are filled with challenges, and Jenny and her husband, Carl, try various therapies in an effort to help her. At four years old, Sarah is still nonverbal, still doesn’t use the potty, and still struggles with eating. Jenny knows she must do more. She has heard of a method developed by the Autism Treatment Center of America called The Son-Rise Program, which, through loving, supportive interaction, aims to foster social connection in people with autism. It is a huge undertaking, requiring hours of one-on-one therapeutic playtime, which means Jenny needs to find and train volunteers to make it possible. Though Jenny isn’t sure she can do it, she decides to try. She calls her program Sarah-Rise. Accompany Jenny as Sarah’s language explodes, her eye contact intensifies, and she plays games, plays imaginatively, uses the potty, eats healthily, reads, and writes. Have your heart warmed and your socks knocked off by this momentous journey. Author: Jennifer Celeste Briggs Publication Date: January 21, 2025
