You Can’t Buy Love Like That

2017-18 Reader Views Literary Award, LGBTQIA: Finalist

“This work movingly renders the complex emotional landscape of living in and out of the closet.”
―Kirkus Reviews

Carol Anderson grows up in a fundamentalist Christian home in the ’60s, a time when being gay was in opposition to all social and religious mores and against the law in most states. Fearing the rejection of her parents, she hides the truth about her love orientation, creating emotional distance from them for years, as she desperately struggles to harness her powerful attractions to women while pursuing false efforts to be with men.

The watershed point in Carol’s journey comes when she returns to graduate school and discovers the feminist movement, which emboldens her sense of personal power and the freedom to love whom she chooses. But this sense of self-possession comes too late for honesty with her father. His unexpected death before she can tell him the truth brings the full cost of Carol’s secret crashing in—compelling her to come out to her mother before it is too late. Candid and poignant, You Can’t Buy Love Like Thatreveals the complex invisible dynamics that arise for gay people who are forced to hide their true selves in order to survive—and celebrates the hard-won rewards of finding one’s courageous heart and achieving self-acceptance and self-love.

Author: Carol E. Anderson

Publication Date: October 17, 2017

Categories: Audiobooks, Award-Winning, Fall 2017, Memoir

Description
About the Author

Description

2019 Book Excellence Awards, Winner, LGBTQ
2019 Winner, The Authors Show, Top Female Author in Biography/Memoir
2018 National Indie Excellence Awards Sponsor’s Choice Winner
2018 Living Now Awards Bronze Winner in Inspirational Memoir—Female
2018 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in LGBTQ Non-Fiction
2018 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Memoir
2018 Readers’ Favorites Book Awards Honorable Mention in Non-Fiction—Social Issues
2017-2018 Reader Views Literary Awards Finalist in LGBTQIA
2017-2018 Sarton Women’s Book Awards Finalist in Memoir
2017 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in LGBT Non Fiction
2017 USA Best Book Awards Finalist in Best New Non Fiction
2018 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist in Memoirs (Overcoming Adversity/Tragedy)
2018 International Book Awards Finalist in LGBTQ: Non-Fiction

“This work movingly renders the complex emotional landscape of living in and out of the closet.”
―Kirkus Reviews

“This book is a rich tapestry of connections that shows us humanity and love in all of its splendor. Carol’s story is everyone’s story, and she brings her parents to life in a powerful way by incorporating the tides and messages of that time. Many touching moments helped me know how connected and deeply human we all are. I could not put this book down, it is an amazing piece of art.”
―Jane Dutton PhD, coeditor of Awakening Compassion at Work: The Quiet Power that Elevates People in Organizations

“We are, according to Joan Didion, well advised to keep on nodding terms with the person we used to be, a declaration that Carol Anderson has clearly taken to heart as she explores her younger self and what it was like, as a gay woman, to have to hide her true identity and her deepest feelings. Written with candor, compassion, and humor, You Can’t Buy Love Like That is, like all great memoirs, both specific and universal in its appeal.”
―Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of Uphill Walkers and To the New Owners

“As a scholar who studies gender, I appreciate the rich socio-historical lens Carol Anderson uses to share the experience of a woman coming out in the sixties. As an avid reader and an admirer of authentic prose, I felt privileged to see her soul, all the tender spots and the strong, resilient parts too. I gained so much from this memoir. Truthful and beautifully written, Anderson’s insightful journey is a reminder of the privilege of choice, the importance of voice and the power of love.”
―Stacy Blake-Beard, PhD, Ellen Gabriel Deloitte Chair of Women and Leadership, Simmons College School of Management

“Finding the love you yearn for requires a courageous step: telling the truth about who you are. And that’s especially delicate when all you hear is that you’re dangerously different. Carol Anderson’s eloquent voice and compelling story pinpoint a time in recent history when secrets held gay and lesbian people hostage, and unspoken truth poisoned our lives. Fortunately, though, her fearless, impassioned words are a particularly vivid reminder that, with a commitment to honesty, curiosity, and love, we can use our own stories―and our own differences―as a resource and an invitation to listen more deeply for the messages of emerging possibility all around us.”
―Peter F. Norlin, PhD, Principal, ChangeGuides Consulting, Former Associate Editor of the Organization Development Practitioner

About the Author

Carol E. Anderson is a life coach and former organizational consultant. She has traveled the world extensively for work and pleasure—most recently to Kenya on a photo safari and to the Democratic Republic of the Congo on a philanthropic mission. She holds a doctorate in spiritual studies, and master’s degrees in psychology, organizational development, and creative nonfiction. She is the founder of Rebellious Dreamers, an eighteen-year-strong non-profit organization that has helped women over thirty-five realize dreams they’d deferred and women of all ages come into their own. Anderson is the author of the essay “What is it about memoir,” published in Magic of Memoir, and coauthor of “Deeper Power,” published in Enlightened Power: How Women are Transforming the Practice of Leadership. This is her first memoir. She lives with the love of her life and their sassy pup in a nature sanctuary in Ann Arbor, MI.