Accidents of Marriage is now available in paperback. In celebration of the release, I wanted to share my review again and make sure everyone knows. Randy Susan Meyers is also hosting an event in Boston . I know that I would love to go, but it is a long trip between Boston and Illinois.
My Thoughts…
I have decided I live in a sheltered world, never have I met
someone who treated people like Ben. That being said, I do not have
my head in the sand and know that there are people out there who just cannot
control their anger.
I struggled with Ben. Did I like him? Not
always, but when the going got tough he seemed to do the best he could and step
up as much as he possibly could. Did I trust him? Heck
no. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop throughout this entire
book. I know he was trying to change his ways, but it was still not
enough. Did I want him to change his ways? Absolutely.
I never want to see a family fall apart and held out hope until the very last
page that he would figure out how to change his ways and control his
anger. Ben was put in an extremely tough place and had to flounder
and figure out how to make it work for him, his wife, and his
children. Anyone man or woman would struggle with that and I really
respected how he did step up and do the best he could.
Accidents of Marriage is all about abuse, there was no
physical abuse, but the anger and the emotional abuse was evident on almost
every page. Seeing Maddy and the kids make excuse and try to sugar
coat it to the rest of the world was eye opening and extremely scary.
This is not an easy read. It is a story that will stay
with me for a while after finishing it. I highly recommend it, but
know that once you start you will have to finish. Putting the book
down is just not an option.
Book Links
Author Links
Best-selling local author Randy Susan Meyers launches the
paperback release of her critically acclaimed book,
ACCIDENTS OF
MARRIAGE with actress (
The Sopranos) Marianne
Leone, author of
KNOWING JESSE: A MOTHER’S STORY, and Leone’s
husband
Oscar winner Chris Cooper, on June 18 at 7
p.m. at Bella Luna Restaurant at 284 Amory Street in Jamaica Plain. This
event benefits AccesSportAmerica and is also hosted by Papercuts Bookstore and
Westwinds Bookshop. It will include a reading and discussion on “Remarkable
Fathers and Family” – just in time for Father’s Day, as well as prizes and entertainment. The June
18 event at Bella Luna is free to the public.
AccesSportAmerica is a national nonprofit based in
Massachusetts promoting higher function and fitness for children and
adults of all disabilities through high-challenge sports and training. Book
sales will be matched and donated to AccesSportAmerica.
Meyers seeks out connections between her novels and the
groups to whom she donates. Highlighting the wide-ranging effects of traumatic
brain injury,
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE is the story of a Boston
family affected by the mother, Madeline’s, brain injury that occurred at the
hands of her husband’s angry driving. Adding to the connections, Randy Susan
Meyers met Madelyn Bronitsky at a book event. An expected guest at the book
launch, Ms. Bronitsky is a real-life traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor,
whose background is so similar to that of the character of Madeline described
in
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE that Meyers’ recent piece for
The
Huffington Post features her, and describes their connection in
“Madelyn & Madeline: When a Character Pops Out of Your
Book.”
The event’s raffle prizes include:
· A
critique of a query letter and first chapter by LMQ literary agent Stephanie
Abou
· Atria/Simon
& Schuster Editor Sarah Branham’s critique of a first chapter
· Book
baskets and more
Meyers and actress Leone met and became friends when they
fell in love with each other’s books. KNOWING JESSE: A MOTHER’S STORY is
the story of Leone and Chris Cooper’s son who suffered with cerebral palsy. In
fiercely honest, surprisingly funny, and sometimes heartbreaking, prose,
Jesse’s mother chronicles her transformation by the remarkable life and
untimely death of her child.
Meyers’ book received a coveted starred review from Kirkus,
it was People’s weekly pick and the Boston Globe wrote
“Meyers deftly deploys a large cast of major and minor characters in telling
this complex story. Her painstaking description of both emotional abuse and
brain injury are impressive. ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE isn’t
for anyone who insists on happy endings, but it rewards readers in deeply
satisfying ways.”
What other's are saying about Accidents of Marriage
“This
novel’s unsparing look at emotional abuse and its devastating consequences
gives it gravity and bite, while a glimpse into a physically damaged mind both
surprises and fascinates.”—PEOPLE Magazine
“Beautifully written, poignant and thought-provoking.” —Kirkus
Starred Review
“A complex, captivating tale.”—Boston Globe
“A deft exploration of the borders of abuse and the aftermath of tragedy,
the triumphs and disappointments of recovery, and the possibilities of faith
and forgiveness.”
—Star Tribune
“Unputdownable and unforgettable. I just loved it—and I’ll now
read everything Randy Susan Meyers writes.”
—Liane Moriarty, NYT bestselling author of Big Little Lies
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE
By Randy Susan Meyers
Exploring emotional abuse and traumatic brain injury with
unblinking honesty,
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE (Atria Books; Trade
Paperback;
June 9, 2015) is a
blindingly clear and immediately engaging account of life inside of a marriage
and the choices that can make the difference between living in hell and
salvation.
The latest page turner from Randy Susan Meyers, ACCIDENTS
OF MARRIAGE never lets go of the reader from the first page to the
last. For Madeline Illica, the love of her husband Ben was her greatest blessing
and biggest curse. Brilliant and charming Ben could turn into a raging bull
when crossed—and despite her training as a social worker Maddy never knew what
would cross him. When Ben was in a conciliatory mood, they worked on techniques
for communication and anger management but on the day of the accident, nothing
seemed to help. He was furious at having to drive Maddy to work, the road was
wet, and that SUV was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Ben never meant for
them to go off the road or for Maddy to go flying through the windshield.
Now she’s on a ventilator in intensive care and no one knows
if she’ll reawaken from her coma and, if she does, whether she’ll ever be her
old self. Maddy’s family blames Ben. Maddy’s friends blame Ben. The children
blame Ben. Ben blames Ben—and he is sick to the pit of his soul over the fear
of losing his one true love.
Fourteen-year-old Emma sees things a little differently. She
desperately misses her mother but misses being a teenager more as she’s forced
to pick up the slack from Ben and parent her younger siblings Gracie and Caleb.
On the cusp of coming of age, she needs Maddy so she can discuss the hard
decisions she’s being forced to make. And her confrontations with her volatile
father are growing more heated by the day.
RANDY SUSAN MEYERS is the author of The Comfort of
Lies and The Murderer’s Daughters and a finalist for
the Massachusetts Book Award. Her writing is informed by her work
with batterers and victims of domestic violence, as well her experience with
youth impacted by street violence. She lives with her husband in Boston, where
she teaches writing seminars at the Grub Street Writers’ Center. She is also a
frequent contributor to The Huffington Post.
ACCIDENTS OF MARRIAGE
By Randy Susan Meyers
Atria Books; Trade Paperback June 9, 2015
$16 US/$21 CAN; 368 pages
ISBN: 978-1-4516-7305-0
Lydia Harris thinks her marriage to Dean has problems. When
she finds a box of news clippings her husband took great pains to conceal,
however, the problems go from disappointing to dangerous. The articles report
about killings nation-wide... in cities where he has traveled. She doesn't want
to believe him capable of such violence, so she searches for clues to explain
the hidden clippings.
