Addiction Memoirs

The weird, wacky and wonderful betting exploits of an unconventional gambler who takes the biggest risk of his life to give up his day job and try to make a living on chance. The Gambler reveals the highs and lows, the joy and despair, and the sheer lunacy of someone willing to risk it all on the most outlandish outcomes, from betting on the winner of Eurovision and Strictly to whether a pair of pandas might mate.

For fans of Educated and Invisible Child, David Sussillo combines memoir and cutting-edge neuroscience to tell the story of his unlikely journey from group homes and drug-addicted parents to the scientific elite—exploring why, and how, he managed to succeed against all odds. David Sussillo has...

When her brother dies of AIDS and her husband dies of cancer in the same year, Rosemary is left on her own with two young daughters and antsy addiction demons dancing in her head. This is the nucleus of The Art of Losing It: a young mother jerking from emergency to emergency as the men in her life drop dead around her; a high-functioning radio show host waging war with her addictions while trying to raise her two little girls who just lost their daddy.

Growing up an only child of a cop and secretary in Las Vegas, life started out pretty uneventful, however, the events of her upbringing brought fear and uncertainty into Deborah's life and caused her to make choices that were fraught with risk and danger. Coming into her own at a time when organized crime dominated Las Vegas, she began to experience growing pains, and her life became dangerous. Deborah fled her persecutors and moved to Los Angeles to start again where the allure of the ocean and her lifelong love of horses brought her joy and comfort.

If you are born into ineffable darkness, can you even comprehend the light? Take one-part volatile home life, two-parts haphazard nomadic existence, zero-parts social connection, and shake well. Our protagonist's only constant is unpredictability: that, and the charismatic, fundamentalist hammerings from the pulpit. But, when a sheltered child goes nuclear? Just pray you are far from the exclusion zone.

The Joy of Addiction is a laugh-a-minute, stranger-than-fiction, tragicomedy about a teenager who hurtles into the abyss of drug and alcohol dependency. It is a true story with an unblinking insight into the mindset of an addict and an invaluable message of recovery.

“My story has been told many times and by highly regarded experts in their fields—judges, prosecutors, juvenile probation officers, sociologists, journalists. But I would like to try to tell it to you myself. I have reason to believe the experts may be wrong about me. You see, today, thirty...

Incurable Hope is a loving mother's memoir of her only child's disease of addiction and overcoming the multiple traumas he endured. This book examines how substance use disorder, mental health, and trauma can collide with the legal and medical systems. More importantly, it is a survival guide, a resource guide, and a desperately needed tour guide through the labyrinth of addiction.

In this powerful memoir of addiction, prison, and recovery, a reporter and a photographer tell their gripping story of falling in love, the heroin habit that drove them apart, and the unlikely way a criminal conviction brought them back together. Books for a Better Life Award Finalist LitHub...

The journey of change can be difficult, intimidating, and filled with myriad emotions. It can also be the momentous adventure of a lifetime, complete with fulfillment, wonderful relationships, and incredible discoveries. My first book, WHEN I STOP FIGHTING, detailed my journey from addictions, self-destructive behaviors, and failings to a life I never, ever dreamed was possible.

In 1991, when he was 13 years old, Lenny Duncan stepped out of his house in West Philadelphia, walked to the Greyhound station, and bought a ticket - the start of his great American adventure. Today Duncan, who inspired and challenged audiences with his breakout first book, Dear Church, brings us a deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the US. In his characteristically powerful voice, he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A raw, powerful portrait of Indigenous resilience drawn from stories of pain, survival, and cultural revival that challenge stereotypes and spark an essential conversation on healing and truth. In a country still reckoning with the legacy of colonialism, Crazywater is more...

If we’re talking agoraphobia, we’re talking books. I slip between their covers, lose myself in the turn of one page, re-discover myself on the next. Reading is a game of hide-and-seek. Narrative and neurosis, uneasy bedfellows sleeping top to toe. When Graham Caveney was in his early...

Years in foster care, ejected from the juvenile justice system, addicted to drugs, a victim of human trafficking - all before she was 19 years old. Gutter Kid is a poignant and brutally honest memoir that chronicles the life of songwriter Keta Loren. In it, she chronicles a life fueled by a hard-fought battle for survival. A cautionary tale in some respects, this story is also one of perseverance, determination, true grit, defiance, and ultimately, triumph for a young woman whom society had cast aside as just another sad statistic.

Precisely plotting the slippery slope of a heroin addict's existence, The Hummingbird Kiss paints a bleak picture but still manages to offer a ray of hope. The '70s are young, and 18-year-old Trish is a newlywed. When a Florida judge sentences her junkie husband to ten years for stealing stereos, she immediately seeks out a fix, and before she knows it she's hooked. There follows a long sojourn as she and her friends work small scams to score, head to California in search of better highs, move back to Florida, shoot up and nod off every chance they get — until death gets some of them.

In this honest, yet humorous account of her year of not getting sh*tfaced, Pamela examines her long relationship with alcohol. She is shocked to realize just how much of a crutch alcohol has been for her. There is always a bottle of wine or prosecco around to help her manage the many demands of life as a freelancer and a parent.

From the Edge of the Cliff: Understanding the Two Phases of Recovery and Becoming the Person You're Meant to Be provides addicts with practical lessons on how to understand and successfully navigate the two phases of recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. However, it is also a remarkably touching, real-life story of someone who has used these same lessons to maintain 28 years of successful recovery. This audiobook contains an entire section on the hazards of drugs prescribed by physicians not well versed in addiction recovery.

William didn't know something was missing until it happened. He'd been in recovery for alcohol and drugs for years. He was a recovery activist and a spokesperson for the gold standard of treatment and recovery organizations. He was a model leader and follower of Twelve Step programs. But, still, he slipped. Privately, he was addicted to painkillers while publicly saying he was in recovery from alcohol and drug use. How did it go so wrong? With brutal honesty and introspection, William shares what happened after sobriety—after he'd published his memoir.

Hide and Seek: A Dad’s Journey from Soulless Addiction to Sole Custody is the story of a three-year-old girl being raised by drug-addict parents. This sobering account is told by her father, a washed-up musician. When his wife kidnaps their daughter and serves him a bogus restraining order, he must decide between deepening his drug excesses or protecting his daughter from her mother’s reckless choices.

From an award-winning artist who was featured in Humans of New York comes a bold personal narrative about overcoming family trauma, addiction, poverty—and forging a creative life in the greatest city in the world. Born in Brooklyn in 1963, Patrick Dougher grew up in some of the most turbulent...