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Book SynopsisOn the cusp of middle age, a newlywed journalist discovers and finishes the bucket list of her late free-spirited father. Fifty-four adventures in six years. That’s what thirty-eight-year-old journalist Laura Carney embarked on when she discovered her late father Mick’s bucket list. Killed in a car crash when Laura was twenty-five, Mick seemed lost forever. My Father’s List is the story of how one woman—with the help of family, friends, and even strangers—found the courage to go after her own dreams after realising those of a beloved yet mysterious man. This is a story about secrets—and the freedom we feel when we learn to trust again: in life, in love, and in a father’s lessons on how to fully live.Trade Review“[Carney’s] narration is both vulnerable and strong as she relates how, in living out her father’s unfulfilled dreams, she developed compassion for his hidden life, discovered strengths that she never knew she had, learned how much the two of them had in common, and realized the truth of the old saying that ‘everything good is on the other side of fear.’ My Father’s List is a poignant memoir about a father-daughter relationship whose love transcended death.” -- Foreword Reviews“Brave, big-hearted, compulsively readable, My Father’s List is a joyful affirmation of embracing life to its fullest after a terrible loss. Carney’s energy to fulfill her father’s dreams is infectious, and her refreshing vulnerability had me rooting for her on every page.” -- Katie Arnold, author of Running Home: A Memoir“Living out her father’s bucket list was the vehicle through which Laura Carney would find herself and her freedom. My Father’s List is a delightful book that reminds us of all the possibility that lies within each of us to do things we never dreamed possible. This book inspires and will touch you deeply.” -- Siri Lindley, two-time triathlon world champion, Olympic coach, author of Finding a Way: Taking the Impossible and Making It Possible, speaker, survivor, and thriver“In this call-to-action memoir, Carney pays homage to her deceased father, and in so doing, keeps him very much alive. It made me wonder what dreams felt complete to my own father at the time of his passing. And reinforced what Carney’s father told her: ‘You’re the best thing I’ve ever done.’ We are lucky to have a champion in a father, and I was moved to dream along with my own because of this book.” -- Laura Munson, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir This Is Not the Story You Think It Is: A Season of Unlikely Happiness and the USA Today best-sellin“With all the memoirs that have been written in recent years, you might think there was nothing new left to do with the form. Laura Carney’s My Father’s List would prove you wrong. This is an original, brave, and inspiring book that will make readers think about their own life goals—and maybe even their lives—in a whole new way.” -- Ben Yagoda, author of Memoir: A History and About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made“I lost count of how many times I wiped away tears while reading My Father’s List. What a gorgeous, exhilarating story of perseverance and the beauty we can make from grief.” -- James Tate Hill, author of Blind Man’s Bluff: A Memoir“Real, honest, and hopeful, My Father’s List is a story about what it really means to be brave and love without limits. It’s about building a life after devastating loss and how the people we’re sure we can’t live without continue to shape and grow us after they’re gone. It’s a no platitudes story about how loss can transform, nudging us to become who we were meant to be all along. A wonderful, memorable read.” -- Janine Urbaniak Reid, author of The Opposite of Certainty: Fear, Faith, and Life In Between“Fulfilling her late father’s bucket list required persistence and courage, as Laura Carney parachuted out of a plane, swam a river, rode a fast horse, and more. But the tougher challenge lay deeper, as she reckoned with her family’s sometimes painful history and the hidden corners of her own heart. This is a profound story of faith, determination, and above all, love.” -- Dawn Raffel, author of Boundless As the Sky and The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies“An expansive, illuminating memoir about Laura Carney's extraordinary undertaking of the seemingly impossible—a jolting, serendipitous journey sparked by pain and completed with enormous heart, intuition, wisdom, and spirituality. This luminous book is a thin place.” -- Ethel Rohan, author of In the Event of Contact“I had a chance encounter with Laura in Plains, Georgia, as she crossed off another item (meeting a president) on her father’s list. The story of her and her journey inspired me inside and out, and I’ve followed her from afar ever since. Her remarkable story is now complete (or is it?) and My Father’s List is her and her dad’s gift to us all.” -- Arthur Milnes, public historian, former memoirs assistant to the Right Honorable Brian Mulroney, former speechwriter for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and author of 98 Reasons to Thank Jimmy Car

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Book SynopsisA memoir of addiction, body image, and healing, through the lens of a long-distance runner. Emily Pifer’s debut memoir, The Running Body, wrestles and reckons with power and agency, language and story, body dysphoria and beauty standards, desire and addiction, loss and healing. Pifer employs multiple modes of storytelling—memoir, meditation, and cultural analysis—interweaving research, argument, and experience as she describes how, during her time as a collegiate distance runner, she began to run more while eating less. Many around her, including her coaches, praised her for these practices. But as she became faster, and as her body began to resemble the bodies that she had seen across start-lines and on the covers of running magazines, her bones began to fracture. Pifer tells her story alongside the stories of her teammates, competitors, and others as they all face trouble regarding their bodies. Through the lens of long-distance running, Pifer examines the effects of idolization and obsession, revealing the porous boundaries between what counts as success and what is considered failure. While grounded in truth, The Running Body interrogates its relationship to magical thinking, the stories we tell ourselves, and the faultiness of memory. Fractures, figurative and literal, run through the narrative as Pifer explores the ways bodies become entangled in stories. The Running Body was selected by Steve Almond as the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Nonfiction Prize. Trade Review"The Running Body is a most unusual book - little in words but big in philosophy. . . . I was mesmerized - the flow reminded me of honey yet the sentences would repeat themselves, would be fragments, would be otherwise unique." * Patch *“The Running Body isn’t just a splendid book about life as a competitive runner. It is a searing exploration of what it means to give yourself over to the beauty and pain of competition, to run for your life but also against it. Emily Pifer is fearless in her pursuit of the truth, not just about running but disordered eating, patriarchal culture, the male gaze, our frantic quest for control, and the role of sports in our society. I felt I was listening to a voice that had vital things to say, and that helped me understand my life, as well as hers.” -- Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak and Against Football"I couldn't put this book down. With gut-wrenching honesty and startling courage, Pifer documents her harrowing descent into the dark side of elite running, where the pursuit of physical perfection is non-negotiable and potentially deadly. A moving, important story." -- Anelise Chen, author of So Many Olympic Exertions"It is beautiful to watch Pifer find her way back to herself, sentence by sentence, in this triumphant memoir." -- Leah Dieterich, author of Vanishing Twins: A MarriageTable of ContentsI.II.III.IV.V.VI.NotesSelected SourcesThank You and Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisThis was the last day I prayed.A coming-of-age graphic memoir set in the West Bank, Good Girls Go to Hell depicts the reality of growing up in a region split by religious tensions—and sometimes violent conflict.From political protests to personal struggles with school, body image, and relationships with family and friends, Tohar Sherman-Friedman’s life is an inspiring story of conflicting convictions, rebellion, and personal growth. Tohar recounts her experience as the youngest of seven children in a conservative Jewish family, navigating a life buffeted by high expectations for school performance and religious adherence at home and tense conflict in the world outside. With utter sincerity and through detailed panel-style drawing, she relates what it’s like to be on a journey that ultimately takes her far from how she was taught to think and what she was expected to believe.Trade Review“A delicate coming of age tale illuminating contemporary Israeli society. A powerful graphic novel that masterfully tackles the major conflicts of our time, including religion versus atheism, conservatism versus liberalism, and occupied territories versus the big city. Through her unparalleled talent and mastery of the comics form, Tohar Sherman-Friedman proves herself to be one of the most important voices in graphic literature today.”—Asaf Hanuka,author of The Realist“A charged memoir of political and religious transformation that’s just right for young readers questioning such things.”—Kirkus Reviews“A serious and sparkling coming-of-age tale.”—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisThe Western media largely glossed over the immense human suffering that occurred in Iraq during the embargo of the 1990s and the Iraq War. With this innovative and award-winning graphic novel, French-Iraqi journalist Feurat Alani sets that record straight. The Flavors of Iraq unfolds as a series of one thousand tweets. In them, Alani describes his experiences in Iraq from 1989, when he traveled from France to meet his extended family in Iraq for the first time, to 2011, when the last Americans pulled out of the country. Alani recounts the vivid impressions this place made on him as a childits wondrous colors, tastes, and smells. And he documents the sounds, silences, and smells of a war in which hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians lost their lives. Illustrated by the striking art of Léonard Cohen and with a foreword by Ross Caputi, a former US Marine who served in Iraq from 2003 to 2006, The Flavors of Iraq tells a poetic and powerful story of an oppressed population, an illegal

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Book SynopsisA first-hand account of the death penalty''s wholly destructive nature. In Witness, Lyle C. May offers a scathing critique of shifts in sentencing laws, prison policies that ensure recidivism, and classic "tough on crime" views that don''t make society safer or prevent crime. These insightful and analytical essays explore capital punishment, life imprisonment, prison education, prison journalism, as well as what activism from inside looks like on the road toward abolishing the carceral state. No outside journalist can adequately report what happens inside death row or what it is like to live through thirty-three executions of people you know. May''s grounded writings in Witness challenge the myths, misconceptions, and misinformation about the criminal legal system and death in prison, guiding readers on a journey through North Carolina''s congregate death row, where the author has spent over twenty years of his lif

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Book SynopsisThrough an important episode in the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, Régis Penet paints the portrait of a humanist genius who refused to submit to the powerful."Tell the French that there is still one man in Austria who is not subject to them, and that he does not bear any title!"1806, Beethoven was 36 years old and resided in the palace of Prince Alois von Lichnowsky, his friend and patron, where he would form a friendship with the young son of the prince, Eduard. It was the time of the great Napoleonic conquests and Austria was now occupied by French troops. In order to show the French officers that he was receiving at dinner, "what remains of a prince of Austria", von Lichnowsky made it a point of honor to have the composer play in front of his guests. But Beethoven refused to show his talent. By insubordination, not only towards the victors, these "servants of tyranny" but also towards his protector who wanted to show him off. He is and will remain a free man!Through the account of this particular day, Régis Penet makes a biographical work and draws a striking portrait of the "bear of the salons": a genius sure of his talent, indomitable and fond of freedom. Instructive, moving... simply magnificent!

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Book SynopsisThe New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights and Inciting Joy is back with exactly the book we need in these unsettling times."Yes, please. I'll have another dose of delight." -Margaret Roach, New York TimesIn Ross Gay's new collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year, one of America's most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight.For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what gives us meaning, from the joy of hearing a nostalgic song blasting from a passing car to the pleasure of refusing the "nefarious" scannable QR code menus, from the tiny dog he fell hard for to his mother baking a dozen kinds of cookies for her grandchildren. As always, Gay revels in the natural world-sweet potatoes being harvested, a hummingbird carousing in the beebalm, a sunflower growing out of a wall around the cemetery, the shared bounty from a neighbour's fig tree-and the trillion mysterious ways this glorious earth delights us.The Book of (More) Delights is a volume to savour and share.

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Book SynopsisFrom acclaimed painter Julie Heffernan, a wholly original and visually stunning four-color graphic work of autofiction about a young mother who—lost overnight on a hike with her infant son—experiences an extraordinary journey of memory, remorse, and rebirth that offers her a new way of seeing the world; for readers of Alison Bechdel, Roz Chast, and Marjane Satrapi.  One summer day, a young artist with a newborn—sleep-deprived, desperate to escape her hot, cramped apartment and her oblivious husband—sets off on a hike in the country with her baby boy, Sam, strapped to her front and her senses fully attuned to the colors, the sounds, and the flora and fauna in the woods around her. During her journey, Julie reflects on her childhood, her parents, her marriage, and her path to becoming a painter. Her memories soon merge with the imaginative pictorial worlds she invents in her work, creating a glorious and pe

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Book SynopsisFrom bestselling author of The Book of Delights and award-winning poet, a book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us. The author of the New York Times bestselling The Book of Delights is back with a new record of small wonders—and it is exactly the book we need right now. In this second intimate collection of short, lyrical, genre-defying essays, again written daily over a year, one of America’s most original and observant voices celebrates the ordinary, helping us see our extraordinary world anew. Among Ross Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: bonding with a pipsqueak of a puppy, observing how his mother bakes eighteen kinds of cookies before her grandchildren arrive, noticing the tenderness he feels when he sees an adult wearing braces, and the recognition that for him the preamble is often more delightful than the thing itse

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Book SynopsisThe story of heartbreak to triumph in the wake of a tragedy. Their first date in college was a U2 concert and after that Lauren and Jack Grandcolas were inseparable. He was mesmerized by her sweetness, fierce intelligence and eyes that were as blue and alive as the ocean. They married and settled in San Francisco, each pursuing their dreams in the business world. After a decade of trying, Lauren finally got pregnant at the age of thirty-eight. On September 6, 2001, she flew to New Jersey—her beloved Little Grandma had died and following the funeral Lauren shared the joyous news of her pregnancy to lift her family’s spirits. Flying home to Jack on September 11th, she arrived at Newark airport early and walked on to a flight for which she hadn’t been ticketed: United 93. During that terrifying flight, Lauren left a calm and reassuring voice mail for Jack which remains a testament to her courage and selfless love, even in the face of her own mortality.Like a River to the Sea is a story of love overcoming loss. In this moving memoir, Jack Grandcolas brings to life his college sweetheart while taking the reader through his long journey to make peace with the loss of Lauren and their unborn child. Jack is honest about the depth of his despair and his battles with depression, PTSI, and heavy drinking. As he digs himself out of the deepest hole imaginable, Jack learns universal truths that will help anyone confronted with tragedy.Like a River to the Sea is also a deeply personal look at an event of historical importance. Jack takes us inside the White House to meet with President Bush and to the precipice of a still-smoldering hole in the earth outside of Shanksville, Penn. The book goes aboard United 93 in its final minutes, when this brave collection of Americans fought to retake control of the plane, ultimately preventing the hijackers from completing their mission and becoming the first heroes in the war against terror.As with Jack’s life, Like a River to the Sea is defined by the boundless depths of human love. Eighteen years after losing his wife and their unborn baby, Jack finally remarried, and his new bride so honors the love between him and Lauren that her wedding ring includes stones that Lauren once wore on her finger. This is the magic of Like A River To The Sea, which begins with heartbreak but becomes a story about the triumph of the human spirit.

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Book SynopsisIn this vivid memoir originally published in German, Anne Groschler (1888-1982) recounts her 1944 escape from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to Mandatory Palestine via “Transport 222”, an exchange transport of 222 Jews for “Aryan" prisoners of war. In the most detailed contribution of the exchange ever published, Groschler paints an authentic picture of life before WWII amongst the upper echelons of German society, her ultimate persecution and escape to Holland where she was betrayed, the horrors of life in the Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps, and her eventual flight via "Transport 222" to Palestine. Written immediately after her liberation in 1944, this unique document captures a little-known chapter of Holocaust history.Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Jever 1938–19392. Groningen and the occupation of the Netherlands—January 1939 to 19423. Groningen 1942/43: Hiding, betrayal and prison4. Camp Westerbork: November 12, 1942, to January 19445. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, February 1, 1944, to June 1944. Death of Hermann Groschler6. Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, April 16 to June 30, 1944: Before the Palestine exchange7. June 30 to July 10, 1944: From Bergen-Belsen to Palestine by train8. Arrival in Palestine on July 10, 1944, and the time thereafterWorks CitedIllustration Credits

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Book SynopsisSimon Fairlie is possibly the most influential – and unusual – eco-activist you might not have heard of. The Observer Simon Fairlie is the original hippie. The Idler This is a fascinating, funny and moving record of an extraordinary life lived in extraordinary times. George Monbiot Going to Seed is the unforgettable firsthand account of how the hippie movement flowered in the late 1960s, appeared spent by the Thatcher-consumed 1980s, yet became the seedbed for progressive reform we now take for granted – and continues to inspire generations of rebels and visionaries. At a young age, Simon Fairlie rejected the rat race and embarked on a new trip to find his own path. He dropped out of Cambridge University to hitchhike to Istanbul and bicycle through India. Simon established a commune in France, was arrested multiple times for squatting and civil disobedience, and became a leading figure in protests against the British government’s road building programmes of the 1980s and – later – in legislative battles to help people secure access to land for low impact, sustainable living. Over the course of fifty years, we witness a man’s drive for self-sufficiency, freedom, authenticity and a deep connection to the land. Simon Fairlie grew up in a middle-class household in leafy middle England. His path had been laid out for him by his father: boarding school, Oxbridge and a career in journalism. But everything changed when Simon’s life ran headfirst into London’s counterculture in the 1960s. He finds Beat poetry, blues music, cannabis and anti–Vietnam War protests – and a powerful lust to be free. Instead of becoming a celebrated Fleet Street journalist like his father, Simon becomes a labourer, a stonemason, a farmer, a scythesman, a magazine editor and a writer of a very different sort. He shares the highs of his experience, alongside the painful costs of his ongoing search for freedom – estrangement from his family, financial insecurity and the loss of friends and lovers to the excesses of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Going to Seed questions the current trajectory of Western ‘progress’ – explosive consumerism, growing inequality and environmental devastation; it’s for anyone who wonders how we got to such a place. Simon’s story is for anyone who wonders what the world might look like if we began to chart a radically different course.Trade Review“This is a fascinating, funny and moving record of an extraordinary life lived in extraordinary times.”—George Monbiot‘Simon Fairlie is one of a kind. Going to Seed is brilliant, bloody-minded, funny and full of hard-learned lessons that we would do well to heed.’—Paul Kingsnorth‘Authentic counter-cultural voices, true to a set of consistent values and principles shaped over a lifetime, are few and far between. Simon Fairlie’s voice is one of those, highlighting so much of what is wrong about our current model of progress.’—Jonathon Porritt, cofounder, Forum for the Future; author of Hope in Hell‘Pull up a chair by a rustic fireside, with a glass of local cider in hand, and allow master raconteur Simon Fairlie to regale you with tales from his extraordinary life. It is so important that the great modern activists capture their stories and the rarely-written histories of progressive social change. These are the shoulders on which we all stand, and there is much wisdom to be discovered here.’—Rob Hopkins, author of From What Is to What If; founder, Transition movement ‘Sooner or later anyone who gets involved in low-impact housing or agriculture in Britain, and perhaps beyond, will find a path through the weeds already mown for them by the well-honed scythe of the pioneering Simon Fairlie. In his wonderful new book, Simon takes us behind the scenes with a warts-and-all personal memoir about an unconventional life lived with gusto. At the same time, and without seeming to try, he sketches a social history of postwar England of surprising thoroughness. Most importantly, while it’s debatable how much tuning in resulted from the dropping out of many in his generation, in these pages Simon forges an acute and nuanced political analysis out of his counter-cultural experiences that’s of urgent mainstream relevance today.’—Chris Smaje, author of A Small Farm Future‘An ideological romp through a life well lived, as irascible, rebellious and perspicacious as the man himself. Genuinely gripping.’—Maddy Harland, editor and cofounder of Permaculture magazine‘Beautifully written—both informative and entertaining, and I found myself laughing aloud on numerous occasions. This book is an essential read and a source of inspiration for anyone who ever has been, or ever hopes to be, involved in any kind of “alternative society”.’—Mike Abbott, author and pioneer of the green woodwork revival in the UK‘A fascinating insight into the life of a true pioneer. This energetic memoir charts half a century of environmental resistance, from almost accidental activism to becoming one of the most powerful advocates for sustainable land use in my lifetime. Without his inspiration, I would never have been able to introduce One Planet Developments in Wales.’—Jane Davidson, author of #futuregen: Lessons from a Small Country and former Welsh minister‘A riveting memoir of a timeless English radicalism; a chronicle of insight, wit and wisdom of the land.’—Alastair McIntosh, author of Soil and Soul; fellow, Centre for Human Ecology

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Book SynopsisA story of global travel, personal growth, and family responsibility through the lens of teenage girl in 1969. Fifteen-year-old Jane was trapped. Trapped in high school in Dallas, Texas where her classes were too easy and her classmates were too conventional. Trapped in service to her mother, a polio survivor who used a wheelchair. When her parents sold their automobile brake-repair business in 1969, they withdrew Jane from her high school to travel the world, visiting India, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Yugoslavia and Northern Europe. As she traveled, Jane was pushed to reconcile her dual role as responsible daughter and as teen in the late sixties, the era of Bobby Fischer, The Beatles, and Hair. Because the World is Round reckons with what it means to be an individual, a caretaker, and a traveler in a vast and changing world.Trade Review“Jane Saginaw’s Because the World Is Round is a moving, hilarious, and beautifully written memoir of the author’s teenage adventure with her family, which takes her to some of the most fascinating places on earth—Lisbon, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Yugoslavia, London—in the year 1970, a time of great political and social upheaval. Along the way, the young protagonist meets Golda Meir, smokes hash for the first time in Kabul, escapes a harrowing encounter with angry villagers in the Indian countryside, and has a coming-of-age epiphany at the London production of Hair. Even more than an adventure tale, though, Because the World Is Round is the story of the relationship between a brilliant, dominant mother who is physically disabled and her caretaker daughter, and the way that relationship changes and grows—sometimes painfully, sometimes joyously—as the daughter begins waking up to the world and a sense of her own identity, femininity, and power. With empathy and wit, in sharply observed prose, Saginaw gives insight into families, mothers, and daughters that is both deeply particular to her life and imbued with universal truths. Because the World Is Round is a book full of wisdom and delight.” —Peter Kline, author of Mirrorforms and Deviants

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Book SynopsisIt’s 1953 in Southern California, Patty is five years old, and her mother hasn’t been home in two days. A police officer eventually arrives and takes Patty and her brothers to juvenile hall—their mother has been drinking again.Twenty-eight years later, Patty herself is an alcoholic mother to three children. Divorced and homeless, she soon realizes that she can’t support her children with her job cleaning houses, so she accepts the offer of a man who works at the gas station: she’ll have sex with him for money.For the next seventeen years, Patty lives a double life as a sex worker. Though she supports her family with the money she makes, she struggles to be the parent she wants to be, until she realizes she has become just like her own mother: an alcoholic who doesn’t give her children what they need.When Patty gets sober, her life begins to change. She finds healing through therapy, spirituality, community, and, most importantly, speaking the truth to her children. Powerful and insightful, Patty’s story is proof that we all are capable of healing ourselves—and that forgiveness can transform our lives completely.Trade Review“Patty Tierney has a gift for sharing her life and the lessons she has learned as a woman, mother, and daughter. For those seeking to practice compassion, forgiveness, and healing of old childhood traumas, Patty shares her very personal journey that takes you to the darkest places, and then returns you to the light. Patty is an inspiration to any parent who wasn’t always good enough and is still striving to be better. She is a testament to the idea that the truth will set you free.”—Jamye Waxman, LMFT, MEd, marriage and family therapist, sex educator, and author

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Book SynopsisFrom an Emmy Award-winning celebrity chef, a cookbook that shares an exclusive look inside the mind and kitchen of the beloved restaurateur and TV personality. Tom Colicchio cooked his first recipe at 13 years old—a stuffed eggplant from an issue of Cuisine magazine that he picked up out of boredom—and it changed his life. Now for the first time ever, Tom recounts the extraordinary personal journey that brought him from his working-class Italian background in Elizabeth, New Jersey, to the award-winning kitchens of New York City’s best restaurants, to the set of Top Chef and the stage of the Emmy Awards.  Through 10 memoir chapters and 60 recipes, Why I Cook shares Tom’s personal reflections of more than 40 years behind the stove. From pre-dawn fishing excursions with his grandfather to running the flat-top at the snack shack of the local swim club, to finding his way as a young chef

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Book SynopsisWild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision For fans of Crying in H Mart and Priest-daddy; How a misunderstood queer biracial kid in small-town Georgia became a Eurovision Song Contest commentator; A memoir combining race, glitz, glamour, geopolitics, and the power of pop music. As a boy, William Lee Adams spent his days taking care of his quadriplegic brother, worrying about his undiagnosed bipolar Vietnamese mother, and steering clear of his openly racist and homophobic father. Too shy and anxious to even peak until he was six years old, it seemed unlikely William would ever leave small-town Georgia. He passed the time alone in his room, studying maps and reading encyclopaedias, dreaming of distant places where he might one day feel free. In time, William discovered that learning was both a refuge and a ticket out. So even as he struggled to understand and to get others to accept both his sexuality and his biracial identity, William focused on his schoolwork, his extracurriculars, and building community with the students and teachers who embraced him for who he truly was. Though his scholarship to Harvard parachuted him into a whole new world, he still carried a lifetime of secrets and unanswered questions that would haunt him no matter how far he travelled. Years later, as a journalist in London, William discovered the Eurovision Song Contest―an annual competition known for its extravagant performers and cutthroat politics. Initially just a fan, he started blogging about the contest, ultimately becoming the most sought-after expert on the subject. From Albania, Finland, and Ukraine, to Israel, Sweden, and Russia, William was soon jetting across the Continent to meet divas, drag queens, and aspiring singers, who welcomed him to their beautiful, if dysfunctional, family of choice. An uplifting memoir about glitz, glamour, geopolitics, and finding your people, no matter how far you must travel, Wild Dances celebrates the power of pop music to help us heal and forgive.Trade ReviewExtremely well written and always interesting, Adams' memoir ends with a touching affirmation of his love for John."; -Michael Cart, Booklist; "An amazing true story more fascinating than fiction. Adams works through problems most of us couldn't even imagine-all the while, he's grappling with being gay in a world where his identity subjects him to abuse. Adams used reading as his refuge from despair. With a scholarship to Harvard and an unlimited imagination, he fights his way to the top by turning a hobby into a hugely successful career. But like all of us from difficult backgrounds, Adams is constantly plagued with family issues. How he handles his life's outrageous challenges-with dignity and courage-will lift your heart. A courageous story well told."; -David Crow, author of The Pale-Faced Lie; "Wild Dances is a pitch-perfect piece of autobiographical storytelling, a love song to the inspirational power of pop and the enduring resilience of queer kids with big dreams. William Lee Adams, already known to the world in his scintillating Eurovision commentator persona, proves to possess a rare talent as a writer. Effortlessly blending piercing emotion with tongue-in-cheek humor and a strong grasp of political context, Wild Dances is sure to captivate readers who seek a story with both style and substance."; -Kai Cheng Thom, author of Falling Back In Love With Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls; "Wild Dances is an unlikely whirlwind: a globe-trotting memoir about a biracial queerdo from Atlanta who somehow becomes the world's foremost expert on Eurovision-the bedazzled talent show that launched the careers of Celine Dion, ABBA, and Olivia Newton-John. Wild Dances is also about death and grief. Which isn't the thematic pairing one might expect. But nothing about William Lee Adams's heartfelt journey is predictable. Your heart WILL go on!"; -Mickey Rapkin, author of Pitch Perfect

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Book SynopsisFrom grief quests to altar-making, to dinner parties to Dungeons & Dragons, Renegade Grief is a profound and vulnerable exploration of care practices and rituals that empower grievers in a culture that expects us to simply ?give it time.?So, you?ve lost someone. At first, there is an outpour of support and phone calls and care packages. But after the services are done and the phone stops ringing, there is a quiet in the air and an expectation to get on with your life as previously planned. The problem is that death has a way of making all plans go out the window. Renegade Grief offers the support in this next stage of grieving?when you feel isolated in your loss and are figuring out how to navigate it.Shaped by her own experience with the death of her father and her time cofounding The Dinner Party, a leading peer-support organization for people who?ve experienced a major loss, Carla Fernandez pushes back on the death-denying culture we live in. For too long, grief has been treated as something pitiable, simply sad, to be gotten over as soon as possible. But after fifteen years of being in a community with fellow grievers, Carla has witnessed a different side of the story. Grieving a significant loss is hardcore, hardly something to be swept under the rug, but an experience to be held with respect, a creative spirit, and with friends. Through inspiring stories of real grievers, patterns from across history, and fresh science, Renegade Grief enlivens you with the permission and possibility to explore your grief in your own unique way and reminds you that you?re not alone in doing it. Renegade Grief is an indispensable resource for people at any stage of the grieving process and with Carla?s candid and compassionate guidance, you learn that life after loss isn?t about the futile attempt of arriving at some other side. Rather, it?s about building your community, adjusting to change, and finding the way for your grief to become a pathway into your own version of a soulful life.

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay, a hilariously candid and refreshingly honest account of Stefanie Wilder-Taylor’s journey to breaking up with alcohol for good. When Stefanie Wilder-Taylor became a mother, being able to connect with other moms over drinks or enjoy a glass of wine at the end of a stressful day felt life-affirming. From liquor cabinet concoctions in high school to tequila shots in her early stand-up comedy days to grocery store wine in young motherhood, alcohol was the seasoning that could give almost any activity more flavor. A drink instantly took the edge off and made even the most difficult adversary (be it a tough crowd in a comedy club or a judgmental PTA mom) not just bearable but fun. As the years go by, Stefanie wonders if her relationship with alcohol is different from other people’s. Is everyone else struggling this hard to moderate? Is it even legal to watch The Bachelor without a glass of white wine? Having spent a lifetime grappling with the question of whether or not she is a “real” alcoholic, one evening brings Stefanie close to the edge of losing it all. Miraculously unscathed, she decides that she doesn’t need to dive all the way down to a stereotypical rock bottom before deciding to stop drinking; if sobriety will improve her life, that’s a good enough reason to quit. Stefanie’s memoir is a tender and funny farewell letter to a beloved but toxic friend.Trade Review“[A] vivid, self-skewering portrait of alcoholic delusion and dysfunction…[DRUNK-ISH is] funny, neurotic, and woozily uplifting.” —Publishers Weekly“Drunk-ish [is] a brave, entertaining book, with much to say about living in our times … told with wit, intelligence, and engaging honesty.” —Kirkus Reviews“Wilder-Taylor's inimitable ability to latch onto humor even in the darkest of times is most refreshing. A perfect balance of bold honesty and riotous wit takes the edge off her culpability as she faces startling truths enroute to accepting the empowerment of sobriety.” —Shelf Awareness“I relate to this woman’s journeys in ways that have been a little bit unparalleled …[Drunk-ish] is humorous and human...it's the best read ever. I was reading this book and going, 'is this about me?'… I am obsessed with this book. I love it so much.” —Drew Barrymore“Written in a hilarious, confessional style…[P]erfect for anyone who has gotten through—or is getting through—parenthood, drinking and everything in between.” —Zibby Owens“Honest, funny, tender...a roller coaster of a book. You will love this candid and funny memoir even if you're not sober. Trust me.” —Jenny Lawson, New York Times bestselling author of Let’s Pretend this Never Happened “Currently sober, pregnant, and working from home, reading Drunk-ish felt like a warning and a memory at the same time. Any alcoholic will recognize themselves in Stephanie’s story, but so will any parent who loves parenting, and any parent who secretly worries they might hate it. This book is honest in a way that’s scary, funny and exciting—like having a therapist who’s way too good at their job.” —Rosebud Baker, standup comic and Saturday Night Live writer “From the fog of her youthful indiscretions to the trick mirror of mommy wine culture, Wilder-Taylor is relentlessly and often hilariously self-scrutinizing. But even as she states difficult truths, the heart of her story is one of enduring forgiveness.” — Meghan Daum, author of The Problem With Everything“I expected Stefanie's account of her love affair with drinking, and subsequent sobriety, to be laugh-out-loud hilarious and eye-opening. I didn't expect it to also be incredibly poignant and intimate. Drunk-ish blew me away. You'll want to turn to the person next to you and read passages aloud (I did). It's clever, vulnerable, and real.” —Laura Cathcart Robbins, author of Stash“Drunk-ish is raw, hilarious and intoxicating. We ride the waves of self-revelation much as one would a sugar-high--with wild, rollicking glee and the unavoidable crash into a sober and ultimately more gratifying life.” —Melissa Bond, author of Blood Orange Night

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Book SynopsisA memoir about showbiz in the early 20th century that travels from the theaters of Vienna, Prague, and Berlin, to Hollywood during the golden age, complete with encounters with Franz Kafka, Albert Einstein, and Greta Garbo along the way.Salka Viertel’s autobiography tells of a brilliant, creative, and well-connected woman’s pilgrimage through the darkest years of the twentieth century, a journey that would take her from a remote province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Hollywood. The Kindness of Strangers is, to quote the New Yorker writer S. N. Behrman, “a very rich book. It provides a panorama of the dissolving civilizations of the twentieth century. In all of them the author lived at the apex of their culture and artistic aristocracies. Her childhood . . . is an entrancing idyll. In Berlin, in Prague, in Vienna, there appears Karl Kraus, Kafka, Rilke, Robert Musil, Schoenberg, Einstein, Alban Berg. There is the suffering and disruption of the First World War and the suffering and agony after it, which is described with such intimacy and vividness that you endure these terrible years with the author. Then comes the migration to Hollywood, where Salka’s house on Mabery Road becomes a kind of Pantheon for the gathered artists, musicians, and writers. It seems to me that no one has ever described Hollywood and the life of writers there with such verve.”

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