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INDIE Foreword Reviews Book of the Year: Mind, Body, Spirit Finalist 2017 IPPY Awards: New Age/Mind Body Spirit, Silver Awards 2016 Nautilus Book Awards: Death & Dying/Grief & Loss Silver Medal Winner Change Maker is Rebecca Austill Clausen’s story of her discovery that she could communicate with her brother after he died. Following this realization, a world she never imagined opened up to her―even as she doubted her sanity and feared she would lose the respect of her colleagues, as well as the love and support of her family. Austill Clausen struggled with how her spiritual awakening and eventual spiritual transformation could mesh with the practical everyday world―the one where she had a rapidly growing rehabilitation business to run, and where she was known as a knowledgeable, science-based expert in the field of occupational therapy. Each chapter of Change Maker explores spiritual beliefs and understanding, includes an original black-and-white illustration by Micki McAllister, and ends with an “Illumination”―guidance, suggestions, encouragement, and inspiration for readers who wish to pursue their own spiritual journey. The end result is a book that blends the best of memoir, self-help, new-age philosophy, and inspiration. Author: Rebecca Austill Clausen Publication Date: September 13, 2016 -
“[Changed by Chance] is a heartbreaking, inspirational story of perseverance through a maelstrom of tragic events that Barker manages to triumph over. The experiences in this book seem almost too harrowing to be true, yet the author’s intelligent, clear prose will keep readers grounded. It’s food for thought for every reader.” —Kirkus Reviews Elizabeth Barker spent years planning and working hard to achieve her version of the American dream – one that is supposed to culminate in parenthood and the role of supermom. But when her first child is born with Down syndrome and a fatal heart condition, her dream suddenly becomes a nightmare. And that’s only the beginning… Liz’s new reality is a detoured obstacle course of life altering encounters, medical mishaps, a breast cancer diagnosis, and cruel hardships. From the moment of her daughter’s birth, she is pummeled with life lessons that no schooling or formal education could have ever taught her. Can Liz keep her sanity and some semblance of her former self alive and well through all of this? Changed by Chance is a courageous story of soul searching introspection about how this champion acquired the necessary life skills to Triumph over Tragedy. Her inspiring journey offers a roadmap to others who may face their own bumps in the road. Author: Elizabeth Barker Publication Date: September 15, 2015 -
The moment Jennifer Gay Summers’s adopted daughter, Lee, took her first steps, joy filled the house—and the chase began. Jennifer was swept into a whirlwind of motherhood with a bold, curious child wired without brakes. Drawing strength and wisdom from her years of teaching at-risk high school students, Jennifer became Lee’s fiercest advocate. An ADHD diagnosis was just the beginning. Sensory and learning disabilities, along with anxiety and depression, followed, creating a mountain of neurodivergent challenges. With Lee stuck in a school system ill equipped to handle children with mental health struggles, Jennifer was forced to come to grips with losing every last traditional parenting expectation—and in doing so found a deeper meaning to her life, turning hardship into joy. More than a memoir, Chasing Lee encourages parents of neurodivergent children to shift perspectives and find valuable survival tools using compassionate guidance and hard-won hope. Jennifer’s inspirational story shines a light on the humanity that connects us, no matter the disabilities or labels—and is a testament to the power of unconditional love and the freedom found in letting go. Author: Jennifer Gay Summers Publication Date: October 27, 2026 -
For fans of Daniella Mestyanek Young’s Uncultured and Tara Westover’s Educated, one woman’s gripping firsthand account of falling into—and eventually escaping—a female guru–led cult as she seeks her own personal awakening. Growing up under the sway of a Brooklyn housewife turned guru, Priya Hutner is drawn into a world shaped by bizarre rituals, spiritual promises, and oppressive beliefs. What begins as a quest for enlightenment unravels into a stifling reality as the boundaries between spiritual devotion and control blur—and as Priya becomes an integral part of the ashram community, sharing the guru’s teachings, she becomes further entangled in a web of spiritual control and manipulation. In this deeply personal memoir, Priya shares her struggle to break free from her guru and the cult-like grip to which she falls prey. Priya’s traumatic escape from the community marks a profound turning point as she regains personal power, rediscovers herself, and achieves true liberation in the process. A spiritual adventure story and a cautionary tale, Chasing Nirvana is a story of love, heartbreak, and redemption that offers a powerful reflection on the perils of blind faith and the beauty of reclaiming one’s life on one’s own terms. Priya’s story is a testament to the human spirit’s capacity for resilience, self-discovery, and freedom from the bondage of belief. Author: Priya Hutner Publication Date: March 3, 2026 -
Terry Repak and her partner moved to West Africa with two small children at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s. He did AIDS work while she wrote and raised their children to become global citizens like their parents. Living in different countries̵–from Ivory Coast and Tanzania to Switzerland—Terry embraced every opportunity to meet people of other cultures and to bear witness to the ravages of AIDS. Like many expats, she was torn between the pull of home when a parent’s health declined or her siblings needed help and the draw of epic landscapes and foreign cultures. The lessons she learned while living overseas—though not always easy—were deeply transformative. Candid, thoughtful, and instructive, Circling Home explores the notion of home and of how the bonds we form with people from other countries and cultures can profoundly change us. Author: Terry A. Repak Pub Date: September 12, 2023 -
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 -
Every day, most of us interact with people of disparate backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences—individuals who hold different expectations than we do of the people and world around them. How does one navigate these often-turbulent waters? In Conscious Change, nineteen authors describe how they have applied the principles of Conscious Change within multicultural, diverse environments to overcome difficult and emotionally draining challenges—and, in doing so, provide a road map to shifting one’s own story when moving through similarly demanding situations in all areas of life. These practical case studies reveal how transformational the Conscious Change tools can be, leading to a stronger sense of one’s personal capacity as a leader, better interpersonal relationships, and the beginnings of greater equity and inclusion. Illuminating and instructive, these stories are vivid illustrations of the skills today’s leaders need in their multicultural organizations and settings, where issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion are, and will increasingly be, front and center. Authors: Jean Kantambu Latting and V. Jean Ramsey Publication Date: July 9, 2024 -
Jealous of her brilliant older sister, Ernestine longs for her father’s approval as a little girl but is never good enough. When she discovers a talent for the flute, she meets a charismatic teacher who gives her the encouragement she craves and becomes her surrogate father. After winning several competitions, she dreams of being a professional musician, but her stern father ridicules the idea and forces her to attend Emory University as a math major like her sister.
Ernestine doesn’t give up on her musical dreams, however, and halfway through college she wins the second flute chair in the Atlanta Symphony. There, she sits beside her former teacher, the principal flute. At first, she loves working with him, but after one successful season he turns on her and does everything in his power to get her fired. Devastated by her idol’s merciless harassment, she’s driven into a spiral of suicidal depression. As she tries to recover, her vulnerability is exploited, again and again, by the very men she turns to for help.
A harrowing account of one woman’s battle with twentieth-century misogyny, Countermelodies follows Ernestine as, through the darkness, she clings to her love for the flute and her unshakable dream of making it in the cutthroat world of classical music.
Author: Ernestine Whitman Publication date: September 24, 2024 -
Rachel likes to think of herself as a nice Jewish girl, dedicated to doing what’s honorable, just as her parents raised her to do. But when her husband, David, survives a plane crash and is left with severe brain damage, she faces a choice: will she dedicate her life to caring for a man she no longer loves, or walk away? Their marriage had been rocky at the time of the accident, and though she wants to do the right thing, Rachel doesn’t know how she is supposed to care for two kids in addition to a now irrational, incontinent, and seizure-prone grown man. And how will she manage to see her lover? But then again, what kind of selfish monster would refuse to care for her disabled husband, no matter how unhappy her marriage had been? Rachel wants to believe that she can dedicate her life to David’s needs, but knows in her heart it is impossible. Crash tackles a pervasive dilemma in our culture: the moral conflicts individuals face when caregiving for a disabled or cognitively impaired family member. Publication Date: April 27, 2021 Author: Rachel Michelberg -
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 -
Georgine had built a life of careful control. As a wife, mother, and college professor, she minimized risk and played by the rules. Her attorney husband was successful, her four grown daughters were thriving, and her students knew that hard work and deadlines mattered. Having survived a turbulent adolescence marked by poverty and substance abuse, she believed in the safety of well-ordered environments. Then the pandemic upended everything. When classrooms and offices closed, Georgine and her husband Mark relocated to Puerto Rico, where she discovered a flourishing—and often outrageous—cryptocurrency community. As she navigated the mysteries of crypto trading and uncovered the political complexities woven into the fabric of the beautiful Caribbean island she now called home, Georgine embarked on a journey that would shatter her orderly existence—and force her to revisit the dangerous youth that had shaped her complicated relationship with home, risk, and money. A memoir about facing past mistakes and embracing second chances, Crypto Island reminds us that personal growth never stops, and that living authentically often demands both resilience and reinvention. Author: Georgine Hodgkinson Publication Date: September 22, 2026 -
A mother’s love and persistence are put to the test when her teen daughter is stricken with a mysterious, debilitating illness. As time goes on, Dana's condition drives everyone away; everyone, that is, except for her mother. Finally, desperate to improve Dana’s health, the two hit the road in search of a cure. Dana’s chronic symptoms require endless supplements, pharmaceuticals, and dietary restrictions, evoking a heroine’s journey. Full of humor, blind hope and alternative medicine, Dancing in the Narrows is a poignant chronicle of Anna and Dana’s multiyear odyssey toward healing from trauma. Author: Anna Penenberg Publication Date: July 7, 2020 -
Set against the backdrop of the early American presence in Iran under the Shah, and the burgeoning years of Kuwait’s early oil boom, Dancing into the Light is Kathryn Abdul-Baki’s memoir of growing up within both the expatriate Western communities and the larger Middle Eastern society of Kuwait and Jerusalem. Hers is a story of belonging to two vastly different cultures and finding her place within both, and the search to find the inherent harmony in worlds at odds with each other. She is already caught in both the joys of and the struggle to be both Arab and American, yet not fully either, when her young life of promise is disrupted by tragedy. But instead of derailing her life, her mother’s death opens the door to deeper love and support from other places within Kathryn’s family. Dancing into the Light is a story of love, loss, and renewal, and of overcoming devastating early trauma through music, dancing, and the love and devotion of strong American and Arab women. Author: Kathryn Abdul-Baki Pub Day: September 5, 2023 -
In Dancing on Coals, Cynthia Moore describes a multi-decade, harebrained search for love in all the wrong places, starting when her narcissistic mother abandons her to a Swiss finishing school. Devastated by her mother’s betrayal, eleven-year-old Cynthia vows to become acceptable—but to whom? Seeking approval first as a madcap performance artist and then an as over-functioning therapist, our narrator is finally forced to abandon her competitive, masculine compulsivity for a genuine quest for inner truth. Ultimately, she finds her voice, develops her gifts, and discovers love, but not where she expected to find it. At times humorous and self-deprecating, at times poignant and heartbreaking, this is the story of one woman’s path from abandonment to wholeness and authenticity. Author: Cynthia Moore Publication Date: March 25, 2025 -
At the tender age of twenty, Jenn faces a pivotal moment when her boyfriend, Morey, proposes marriage after only a few weeks of dating. Her intuition urges her to say no, but she’s spent the entirety of her teenage years caregiving for family; she yearns for adventure, and she thinks relocating to California with Morey will give her the freedom she craves. So she says yes—only to find herself back in the caregiver role after he becomes disabled a few years into their marriage. But it’s Morey’s volatile personality that ultimately leads Jenn to make a brave decision: it’s time to leave. Dancing on My Own Two Feet takes a poignant turn as Jenn relocates to New York City after her divorce. Here, she rediscovers a long-forgotten passion for dance and embarks on a transformative journey that transcends the physicality of movement. Each dance becomes a channel to tap into her inner wisdom, providing the courage to explore the world and embrace new adventures. Then Jenn encounters Gable, a potential suitor, prompting new questions to arise for her: Is she better off on her own? Or could Gable be the love and dance partner she’s been longing for? Author: Jenn Todling Publication Date: April 29, 2025 -
2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Winner, Memoirs (Other) 2016 IPPY: Silver medal, Sexuality/Relationships 2016 International Book Award Finalist in Self Help: Relationships Ann has two kids, two careers, two divorces, a pile of friends and sings soprano in the church choir. But after twelve years single, she is sick of celibacy. She’s been through enough to know that marriage is not what she was brought up to expect, and that love can be slippery and uncertain. With a re-awakened libido and a longing for adventure, she steps outside her comfort zone—embarking on a boundary-pushing, soul-searching journey into the world of online dating. Ranging from Montclair, New Jersey to Harare, Zimbabwe, Daring to Date Again: A Memoir is a compelling, often racy memoir of one woman’s late-life adventures with sex and dating in the modern world. As she rollicks (and bawls) her way through dozens of relationships, Evans tackles some touchy topics with humor and insight: the morality of dating married men, whether women over sixty should consider having children, what age difference is too much, and more. Daring, frank, and a little bit nutty, Daring to Date Again is a story about what happens when a lonely, sex-starved sixty-year-old woman decides to put herself on the market again—but on her own terms. Author: Ann Anderson Evans Publication Date: November 11, 2014 -
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 -
On November 5, 1917, Taylorville, Illinois native Clara Taylor stepped off a Trans-Siberian Railway train into a city then called Petrograd, Russia. Employed by the YWCA as an industrial expert, Clara had been sent to Russia to help establish Associations in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and Moscow. Her main charge while in Russia was to survey and report on factory conditions, but Clara only spent a fraction of her stay in Russia visiting factories; due to the vagaries of the political, social, and economic revolution—the upheaval of an entire culture—Clara and her colleagues spent most of their first year in Russia teaching English, home economics, book keeping, literature, and basketball, and sponsoring lectures, dances and sing-alongs for Russian working women. Clara’s letters, collected in this book, tell of both the mundane and the extraordinary: what the YW staff ate for dinner; how the Bolshevik suppression of free speech impacted Americans’ ability to communicate with those at home; shootings in the streets; bartering for pounds of sugar; conversing with nobility, with intellectuals, and with workers; attending the opera; and sight-seeing at monasteries. Together, Clara’s letters to her family—her “dearest ones at home”—tell a compelling story of one American woman’s experiences in Revolutionary Russia. Author: Katrina Maloney and Patricia M. Maloney Publication Date: October 21, 2014 -
“. . . a survival story of the highest order, navigating the complex terrain of marriage, medical crisis, and a future reimagined.” —CAROLINE VAN HEMERT, award-winning author of The Sun is a Compass A marine biologist’s adventurous life as a professor and mother in Alaska is upended when her healthy husband is slammed by a rare type of stroke. His radical approach to recovery clashes with her instinct to keep him safe at home and sets them on a collision course as he insists on ambitious sailing expeditions with Beth and their young son in Alaska’s magnificent yet unforgiving waters. Author: Beth Ann Mathews Publication Date: May 2, 2023 -
Eve Sprunt, a shy young woman with big ambitions, dreams of a life that includes both scientific work and a family. In 1969, she enters MIT, where women are still a small minority on campus and skepticism follows her every step. As she advances academically, Eve confronts professors who underestimate her—and others who cross professional boundaries. One mentor, however, urges her toward a PhD at Stanford, where she becomes the first woman to earn a doctorate in geophysics. Nine months after defending her thesis, Eve gives birth to her first child—then interviews for jobs with her baby in tow. Six oil companies make offers. When she begins work in Dallas, her carefully laid plans unravel, forcing her to reinvent herself as a petroleum engineer. Over a thirty-five-year career in the oil and gas industry, Eve repeatedly adapts to workplace bias, shifting markets, and high-stakes corporate culture, transforming setbacks into new opportunities for growth, global adventures, and leadership. In Defending My Work, Eve shares her remarkable journey as a woman navigating—and succeeding in—a male-dominated field, offering practical guidance, encouragement, and hard-won insight for readers of all ages. Author: Eve Sprunt Publication Date: November 10, 2026 -
When Adrienne Rubin enters into the jewelry business in 1970s Los Angeles, she is a maverick in a world dominated by men. She soon meets a young hotshot salesman who doesn’t seem to struggle at all, and when he asks her to be his partner, she is excited to join him. She doesn’t know him well, but she does know his father, and she believes he is as trustworthy as the day is long . . . Diamonds and Scoundrels shows us how a woman in a man’s world, with tenacity and sheer determination, can earn respect and obtain a true sense of accomplishment. Following Rubin’s experiences in the jewelry industry through the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s—with the ups and downs, good guys and bad—this is a tale of personal growth, of how to overcome challenges with courage and resilience. It’s a story for the woman today who, in addition to a rich family life, seeks a self-realized, fulfilling path toward a life well lived. Author: Adrienne Rubin Publication Date: September 17, 2019 -
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 -
We live in a critical and oftentimes violent world. People are afraid to talk about what they feel, think, or believe. They withhold energy for fear of being ridiculed, punished, or excluded. They hide their deepest dreams and desires away and cover them up with doubt, insecurity, old experiences, and fears. Cynthia James know this—because that was her experience. Covering seven decades of living, traveling, and growing, Does My Voice Matter? follows James’s journey of self-discovery and authenticity as she gradually recognizes that she has a voice—and learns how to use it. She uses her own life experiences as a backdrop for her exploration of how the voice is used as a tool of engagement; how a singular or collective voice can enhance empowerment, transparency, and accountability; and, finally, how expression can develop new ideas, shift cultures, political views, transform organizations, create laws, and improve lives. Written for anyone who wants to discover the power within that makes them special, Does My Voice Matter? has a vital message: Uniqueness is your own glorious imprint on this planet, and it is calling you to come out. It doesn’t matter if your awakening is large or small, it doesn’t matter what your age, race, religion, or history is—anyone can begin right where they are, right now. Author: Cynthia Jones Publication Date: September 27, 2022 -
2017 International Book Awards Winner in Animals/Pets 2017 Living Now Awards Gold Medal Winner in Animals/Pets Written for the dog and cat lover, animal advocate, and fan of natural medicine, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse reveals how our timeless relationships with our beloved animal friends hold the keys to our optimal health. Acupuncturist, plant-based nutritional consultant, and animal advocate Carlyn Montes De Oca weaves together an insightful tapestry of prescriptive advice, personal stories about her lively “six-pack” of rescue dogs and cats, and testimonials from other dog and cat lovers, including best-selling author Jack Canfield. In an age when most people will suffer from a preventable chronic disease, Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse opens readers eyes’ to the fact that our beloved companion animals can be some of the most powerful allies we will ever have on the journey towards a healthier, happier, and more extraordinary life. Author: Carlyn Montes De Oca Publication Date: April 18, 2017
