Thursday, September 12 at 6:00 PM
Join us at The Athenæum to celebrate the debut memoir by local author Rebecca Spiegel, who will read from and discuss her powerful work.
Without Her, A Chronicle of Grief and Love, opens with Spiegel working as a teacher in New Orleans when she learns of her sister’s suicide. Only after the funeral does shock give way to grief—and to many questions. How could Emily do this to herself? How could she have abandoned all those who loved her? And what could have been done differently to prevent this devastating loss?
In the days and weeks that follow, Spiegel embarks on a search for answers. She unpacks family history, documents the last traces of her sister’s life, and questions what more she could have done to prevent her death. Unsparingly honest and resistant to simple solutions, “This clear-eyed reckoning offers a path toward understanding what always exists on the other side of grief: the joyful fact of a deep and abiding love” (Camille T. Dungy).
A book signing will follow. Book sales arranged with Head House Books.
Rebecca Spiegel teaches writing in Philadelphia, where she lives with her family. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Without Her is her first book.
She will be in conversation with Joey McGarvey, Senior Editor at the independent publisher Spiegel & Grau, who is based in Philadelphia.
