Acclaimed writer Nessa Rapoport offers a touching collection of short, lyrical reflections on women's grief. Filled with beauty, honesty, and solace, these gentle poems are the perfect gift for women during life's most difficult times. "Speaks powerfully to both men and women".--Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul. Selection of the Book of the Month Club.
Though at times it may seem impossible, we can heal with help from our friends and community– if we know how to ask. This heartrending, relatable account of one woman’s reckoning with loss is a guide to the world of self-recovery, self-love, and the skills necessary to meeting one's own needs in these times of pain– especially when that pain is suffered alone. Grief is all around us. In the world of today it has become common and layered, no longer only an occasional weight. A book needed now more than ever, Forget Prayers, Bring Cake is for people of all ages and orientations dealing with grief of any sort—professional, personal, romantic, familial, or even the sadness of the modern day. This book provides actions to boost self-care and self-worth; it shows when and how to ask for love and attention, and how to provide it for others. It shows that it is okay to define your needs and ask others to share theirs. In a moment in which community, affection, and generosity are needed more than ever, this book is an indispensable road map. This book will be a guiding light to a healthier mental state amid these troubled times.
"Dolores Leckey knows firsthand that the death of a spouse changes forever the rhythms of life at all levels--body, mind and soul. In this moving and personal narrative that includes entries from her journal, she shares with us her own shift in consciousness, in the way she sees God, herself and the world after her husband's death. She offers us consolation and hope." [from back cover] Includes : Additional Resources p. 88 ; Index p. 89 - 91.
In this revised collection, loving reflections provide wisdom and encouragement to help overcome anxiety, gain self-esteem, and improve relationships. They may be used over and over for women in transition or recovery and those wishing to enhance personal power.
Examines the long-term ramifications for adult women who, as adolescent girls, lost their fathers to death, divorce, or addiction; helps them understand how their behaviors were shaped by that loss at a pivotal developmental stage; and provides some interactive exercises to help them heal. Original.
Typically, when we reference grief work in relation to anti-Blackness, people think about the grief experienced by those oppressed by white supremacy. But Breeshia Wade encourages those who are not Black to consider how their own unexplored grief amplifies the suffering of Black people. Most of us understand grief as sorrow experienced after a loss—the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, or a change in life circumstance. Breeshia Wade approaches grief as something that is bigger than what's already happened to us—as something that is connected to what we fear, what we love, and what we aspire toward. Drawing on stories from her own life as a Black woman and from the people she has midwifed through the end of life, she connects sorrow not only to specific incidents but also to the ongoing trauma that is part and parcel of systemic oppression. Wade reimagines our relationship to power, accountability, and boundaries and points to the long-term work we must all do in order to address systemic trauma perpetuated within our interpersonal relationships. Each of us has a moral obligation to attend to our own grief so that we can responsibly engage with others. Wade elucidates grief in every aspect of our lives, providing a map back to ourselves and allowing the reader to heal their innate wholeness.
Two sisters, lost youth, and youthful obsessions; organized by day as the family sits shiva, Evening unfolds the paradoxes of love, ambition, siblings, and the way the past continues to inflect the present, sometimes against our will. In her thirties, Eve is summoned home by her distraught family to mourn the premature death of her sister, Tam, a return that becomes an unexpected encounter with the past. Eve bears the burden of a secret: Two weeks before Tam died, Eve and Tam argued so vehemently that they did not speak again. Her sister was famous, acclaimed for her career as a TV journalist and her devoted marriage. But Tam, too, had a secret, revealed the day after the funeral, one that inverts the story Eve has told herself since their childhood. In the aftermath, Eve is forced to revise her version of her fractured family, her sister’s accomplishments and vaunted marriage, and her own impeded ambition in work and love. Day by day as the family sits shiva, the stories unfold, illuminating the past to shape the present. Evening explores the dissonant love between sisters, the body in longing, the pride we take in sustaining our illusions, and the redemption that is possible only when they are dispelled. The paperback edition features a reading group guide for book clubs.
“Sue Patton Thoele opens a door to the often hidden treasures of the sacred. Treasures which impregnate the nitty-gritty of a woman’s life.” —Paula Payne Hardin, author of What Are You Doing With the Rest of Your Life? When the Divine Feminine instructed Sue Patton Thoele to “pour water on my women,” Thoele set about writing a book to provide women with spiritual sustenance for every area of their lives. The Woman’s Book of Spirit is Thoele’s take on what it’s like to have the best intentions in the world and blow it—and not just once. It’s a book that asks us to meditate on a series of anecdotes and stories that touch on intimate portrayals of everyday living, from knowing how to receive love to handling grief. Each daily reflection in this book evokes a nourishing and motivational sense of self that empowers and heals, so that you may move forward in your journey. The Woman’s Book of Spirit: Is written in a series of short meditations that allows you to connect more deeply to yourself Contains the meaning behind “the Sacred Feminine Voice” that teaches you how to heal your wounds Includes quotes from distinguished women to revitalize your heart “Gently encourages the relationship with spirit, the spirit that is already within us, the spirit we need to develop, the relationship to spirit that is every woman’s birthright.” —Daphne Rose Kingma, bestselling author of Coming Apart “An inspirational source of comfort, joy, and wisdom.” —Angeles Arrien, author of Living in Gratitude “The passages are offered with great respect and loving kindness from a wise and experienced traveler on the spiritual journey.” —Vimala McClure, author of The Tao of Motherhood
An unforgettable collection of fairy tales for grownups—from the Booker Prize-winning author of Possession. • “A delight.... provoking and alarming, richly yet tautly rendered.... [She] has the sheer narrative skill to raise the hairs on the back of your neck and make your pulse race.” —The New York Times Book Review Like Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, Isak Dinesen and Angela Carter, A. S. Byatt knows that fairy tales are for adults. And in this ravishing collection she breathes new life into the form. Little Black Book of Stories offers shivers along with magical thrills. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women, childhood friends reunited by chance, venture into a dark forest where once, many years before, they saw–or thought they saw–something unspeakable. Another woman, recently bereaved, finds herself slowly but surely turning into stone. A coolly rational ob-gyn has his world pushed off-axis by a waiflike art student with her own ideas about the uses of the body. Spellbinding, witty, lovely, terrifying, the Little Black Book of Stories is Byatt at the height of her craft.
"I don't think I could stay away from you if I tried." He shook his head. "And I have been trying. I told myself not to go to your house tonight. I ordered my hand not to hold yours. But apparently I can't control myself when it comes to you, Elle Brooks." When a kitchen fire forces young widow Elle Brooks to move in with her friend Bryn and her motley collection of rescue animals, she doesn't foresee ending up in the muscled arms of handsome cowboy and veterinarian Brody Tate. Spending time with the hunky cowboy and his adorable young daughter as they rehabilitate rescued horses reminds Elle of all she lost in a car crash years ago. Brody is devoted to being a good dad for his spirited daughter. He hasn't let romance even enter his head. But now he's met Elle. Spending time with her is shaking up the calm he's worked so hard to achieve, and he can't seem to get this woman off his mind. Praise for Jennie Marts: "Funny, complicated, and irresistible."—JODI THOMAS, New York Times bestselling author, for Caught Up in a Cowboy "Full of humor, heart, and hope, deliciously steamy but still sweet, with a secret at its heart."—JOANNE KENNEDY, award-winning and bestselling author, for Wish Upon a Cowboy