"Genre-defying... A gripping, often literary memoir that ruminates on life's unfixable complications." -- Kirkus Reviews A debut memoirist's life is turned upside down by a devastating medical diagnosis and the revelation of a family secret. In 2014, Warner fractured her pelvis during a bicycle accident. The immobilizing injury, she writes, was "just the beginning of [her] profound state of undoing." Shortly after the accident, she would be diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder-Mal de Debarquement Syndrome-which she describes as a type of vertigo in which her brain perceives solid ground as water. Feeling "out at sea, bobbing, sinking," the author would also become psychologically unmoored after learning that the man she had grown up calling "dad" was not her biological father (who died in a shipwreck on Lake Michigan). Her medical condition, combined with the revelation of her true parentage, prompted Warner to look back at her life, from her childhood to her obsessive skin-picking as a teenager, through a new lens. While the book has the hallmarks of a traditional memoir, including autobiographical vignettes and intimate reflections, the work's genre-defying form makes it unique-the text includes reconstructed scenes that take place before Warner was born, original poetry, and letters written to her biological father. The book's opening chapter reads like a scene from a novel, with detailed descriptions of the moment in 1974 when the author's mother first met Warner's charismatic biological father, Charlie, and her parents' open marriage (prompted by her father's infidelity). Perhaps the most poignant elements are the author's letters to Charlie, dated from various points in her life (from childhood through adolescence into adulthood), and in which she reconstructs her past with knowledge of Charlie's existence. Reminiscing about a childhood memory of Lake Michigan, she writes in one letter, "I pictured my refuge at the bottom of the lake...I didn't know you were already there." Both accessible and poignant, this is a powerful reflection on identity, memory, and family. A gripping, often literary memoir that ruminates on life's unfixable complications. * Kirkus Reviews *"Chilling. Horror. Warner's words are so powerful, I felt as if I were going through the experience with her." -- Sara Davidson * New York Times *"Tremendous writing. The unease is inescapable." -- Kenny Farquharson * Editor's Pick Warner's closely observed, intense memoir explores questions of heredity and identity. When Warner loses her father, David-a doctor-in a motor vehicle accident, she reacts with numbness, just as she had responded to the casual revelation from her mother Nancy, that she may not be David's child. Though outwardly an overachieving, well-adjusted youngster, Warner's inner world is chaotic, and her major decisions-like career choice and life partners-are attempts to get closer to her dad. But when her brother Eric gives her a DNA kit, the tests reveal he is only her half-sibling. This prompts a quest that surprises even Warner in her readiness to "forge ahead with this new information... to walk on coals." Warner's poetic prose and intimate descriptions of her inscape while grieving the sudden loss of her father plunge readers directly into her reality. Her attempts to carve a career in medicine as a legacy that "has" to be followed, and her affinity towards men who in some way resemble her father, make profound sense. Warner's partner Dave stands out as a pivotal figure in her life; caregiving takes a heavy toll, and readers will admire Dave's commitment to his intellectually disabled daughter Syd-and his support of Warner during the worst days of her undiagnosed illness, later found to be a rare neurological disorder known as Non-Motion Triggered Oscillatory Vertigo. Warner's attempt to let things remain unsolved, to just be, and to avoid always needing to be in control will resonate with readers tired of living in an everything-can-be-fixed world. This evocative, deeply immersive memoir reiterates that people process grief in different ways, sometimes taking decades to come to terms with it. Those who seem fine may not always be, and the mysterious DNA structures we carry within us encode more into our beings than we will ever know. Takeaway: Engrossing memoir of loss, heritage, and identity. Comparable Titles: Dani Shapiro's Inheritance, Margo Reilly's When You Shake the Family Tree. Production gradesCover: ADesign and typography: AEditing: AMarketing copy: A * Publishers Weekly *Chilling. Horror. Kimberly's words are so powerful, I felt as if I were going through the experience with her. * Sara Davidson, NYT bestselling author *Tremendous writing. The unease is inescapable. * Kenny Farquharson - senior columnist with The Times, Edinburgh *This story has all the makings of a limited series. It has perfect A and B storylines, two mysteries running in parallel timelines, two layered characters with two hearts both in deep conflict with themselves, both fueling the engines for the overall story--yearning curiosity versus fear/delight at what one discovers about one's parentage. It's so Noah Hawley meets folk mystery. * Alisa Kennedy Jones, TV writer/author *Kimberly's recounting of her childhood is so alive and raw. * Ben Wakeman, author, prod *
