Recovery Memoirs

Alone. Forgotten. Ashamed. What do these words mean to you? What about junkie? Loser? To someone, these words become part of their everyday life. Does this mean they are no longer human? As the human race, do we completely understand the suffering others go through? And what do we do to help? Nothing.

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.

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...

Famously neurotic comedian Richard Lewis finds himself on a gurney in the ER at the age of 44, hallucinating from excess cocaine use and his body poisoned by acute alcoholism. The same dysfunctions that had been the basis for his successful stage persona and inspired his best material had, it seemed, turned on him. In this very funny, deeply honest, and inspiring book, Lewis explores how he got there, how he finally got on the road to recovery, and how he copes with being Richard Lewis sober on a daily basis.

A jagged and luminous survivor's account and a defiant celebration of imperfection, Broken Girl is a powerful and poetic work of staggering loss and betrayal, love, and rage. Caroline Laner Breure was on holiday in Spain with her boyfriend when her skull was crushed. A year later, following...

My stroke occurred on December 10, 2021. During the hours that my mind was deteriorating, my life was sent down an inevitable pathway that would include emergency medical intervention, brain surgery, and months of therapy addressing physical and emotional health as well as speech and cognitive skills. What was not inevitable in all of this was the unique inner duality that emerged. Buddy (right brain) embraced the realm of peace and tranquility. Sir! (left brain) controlled the management of the brain: order, details, time, and knowing the feeling of being in charge.

No topic is too taboo or off limits, from the sexual assaults she suffered as a child to the exhibitionism displayed and multiple abortions she had as an adult. Garland weaves the seedy and secretive world of a sex addict with her words, removing the erotic and replacing it with the reality of what it means to live a double life: lying to and cheating on the ones you love.

A poignant, “raw[,] and tender” (The New York Times Book Review) memoir told in essays and graphic shorts about what life looks like twenty years after recovery from addiction—and how to live with the past as a parent, writer, and sober person—from a regular opener for David Sedaris. In...

The ultimate front-row seat to the rise, fall, and rebirth of a band that was - for a time - the biggest in the world, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Jim Sonefeld’s shattering and redeeming spiritual path from addiction to recovery and a more fruitful life.

The New York Times bestselling author of The In-Between presents a vulnerable, moving memoir about the unraveling of her marriage, and her evolving journey to find beauty in life's endings and beginnings. As a hospice nurse, Hadley Vlahos helps people navigate grief and major life transitions...

After his father died on 9/11 in the World Trade Center, nine-year-old Matthew John Bocchi began an obsessive quest to find out exactly how he died. He researched video tapes, pictures, blogs, anything that could potentially answer the question looming in his mind: Was his father one of the jumpers? In the first memoir told by a child of 9/11, Matt intimately delves into the psychological and emotional torment that ensued after his father's death.

In 1984, John Hanrahan was featured in Interview magazine's iconic Olympic Issue as one of America's top athletes vying for a spot on the US Olympic Team. He had come within a point of defeating the mighty Soviet world medalist and had defeated other prominent world competitors. He was within reach of a lifetime dream, but then abandoned the Final Trials. He was nowhere to be found. He hadn't exactly fallen off the face of the earth, but he'd become a full-blown drug addict, unable to face his competition, and unwilling to confront the truth of his situation.

The debut of an important new literary voice: Marin Sardy's extraordinarily affecting, fiercely intelligent memoir unflinchingly traces the path of the schizophrenia that runs in her family. Against the starkly beautiful backdrop of Anchorage, Alaska, where the author grew up, Marin Sardy weaves...

Part memoir, part handbook for the heartbroken, this powerful, unsparing account of losing a premature baby will speak to all who have been bereaved and are grieving, and offers inspiration on moving forward, gently integrating the loss into life. Inglis's story is a springboard that can help...

A late-in-life coming-of-age escapade told with humor and heart, Don’t Think Twice is a moving and irreverent account of grief, growing up, and the healing power of adventure. Within six months, Barbara Schoichet lost everything: her job, her girlfriend of six years, and her mother to...

From the author of the beloved New York Times best-selling The End of Your Life Book Club, an inspiring and magical exploration of the power of books to shape our lives in an era of constant connectivity. Why is it that we read? Is it to pass time? To learn something new? To escape from reality?...

Monday, March 11, 2024, was remarkably uneventful—indeed, frankly dull—until around 5 p.m. that evening when Carl Davies collapsed in a heap. It was a day that would change his life forever. Stroke Me! Recounts the story of his recovery from a near-catastrophic brain haemorrhage. The author details, in often graphic detail, every step of his journey, from the stroke itself to the pain of physical and occupational therapy. He leaves no stone unturned as he describes the impact his illness has had on him and his family. Stroke Me!

No Longer a Slave is a poignant tale that explores the raw realities of addiction. This book offers solace and inspiration to those who would dare to confront their own demons and embark on the journey towards healing and freedom. In this gripping memoir, Pastor Hadley Baker delves deeply into the heart-wrenching world of addiction. Don’t let his church title fool you—his story is messy. As someone who was helplessly enslaved to pornography for more than two decades, this compelling narrative exposes the horrors of addiction while also providing a pathway to recovery and renewal.

In this captivating memoir, one woman's journey unfolds - from the darkest depths of teenage abuse and addiction to the heights of personal and professional success. Her brave and vivid narrative, skillfully blending laughter and tears, reveals the enduring beauty that can emerge from life's darkest moments. Marked by scars and illuminated by triumphs, this is a gripping listen for anyone who has faced adversity, dared to hope, and believes in the boundless power of redemption.

When Robin Romm’s The Mother Garden was published, The New York Times Book Review called her “a close-up magician,” saying, “hers is the oldest kind [of magic] we know: the ordinary incantation of words and stories to help us navigate the darkness and finally to hold the end at bay.”...