Braving the Fire

Title: Braving the Fire

Author: Jessica Handler

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: December 10, 2013

ISBN: 9781250014559

Number of Pages: 256

How I Got It: from author

This review is on page 23 of the December issue of Buckhaven Lifetyle magazine

While the holidays bring joy, they can also bring sadness and grief. The memory of lost love ones is especially trying at this time of the year. Many people wish to memorialize the story of their grief in a memoir but just don't know how or where to start. Jessica Handler's memoire "Invisible Sisters" shared the story of the loss of her sisters. After its release, she spoke with many others about their grief. Her newest release, "Braving the Fire," is a gentle but knowledgeable approach to assist a memoirist in recording their story. She acknowledges the plethora of questions that accompany the decision, such as "where do I start, what if I hurt someone with my story, or what if I remember an event differently from someone else?" Her experience with both grief and the writing of a memoir allow her to guide a writer through their own story. Loosely based on the Kübler-Ross model of Five Stages of Grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, Handler provides a step by step guide to writing a grief memoir. Offering her own memories alongside writing exercises, pointers, author contributions and interviews makes a reader fell as if someone is holding their hand through the process. "Braving the Fire" explains how to fully immerse one's self into memories and produce the story within your heart and mind onto the page. For more information, visit JessicaHandler.com

** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and submitted the review for publication based on my personal pitching criteria**