Profound, funny, and masterfully told, Stay: A Story of Family, Love, & Other Traumas is a richly woven memoir that explores the joyous and painful complexity of relationships, the generational cost of family secrets, and the struggle to help those we love without losing ourselves. "What happened to Danny"--how Julie Fingersh's family often referred to her brother's life story--had always been sealed in sacred privacy, tucked away from friends, neighbors, roommates, and colleagues. Things like this did not happen to people like them. Decades later, a different something happened. But this time Julie wasn't a young sister trying to help her beloved little brother--she was a mother grappling with mid-life, and it was her own child whose life suddenly careened off track. Stay is for everyone struggling to help loved ones plagued by depression, mental illness, or the isolating veil of chronic illness. For everyone wrestling with mid-life's ghosts and the twin pillagers of self-judgment and fear. But above all, Stay is for readers who want to think, feel, laugh, cry, and consider their own life's journey; it's a messy, funny, heart-wrenching story about how to overcome the blueprint of our past and rise to the possibility of our own lives.
Named one of Zibby Owen's most anticipated books of Fall 2024 "Fingersh's story should help readers dealing with family secrets and mental and physical health issues feel less alone." -Booklist For fans of Kelly Corrigan, Jenny Lawson, and Anna Quindlen, Stay: A Story of Family, Love, & Other Traumas is a riveting debut memoir that captures the light and shadows of family, the cost of our secrets, and the quest to help those we love without losing our own way. "What happened to Danny"--which was how Julie Fingersh's family often referred to her little brother's life story--had always been sealed in sacred privacy, unfolding year after year under the noses of everyone around them. Their odyssey was easily concealed; things like this did not happen to families like theirs. Then, decades later, a different something happened. But this time Julie wasn't a young sister trying to help her beloved brother. She was a mid-life parent on the verge of an empty nest, and this time it was her own child's life suddenly careening off track. Sparkling with warmth, insight, and lyrical prose, Stay explores the joyous and painful complexity of relationships, parenting, and mid-life.It also offers readers a rare, deeply affecting look behind