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Meredith Hall
Dear Reader, WITHOUT A MAP is about loss and grief, and it is about forgiveness and recompense. When I was sixteen, in 1965, I became pregnant. My mother kicked me out. I lived with my father until my baby was born, when I was forced to give him up for adoption. Then my father exiled me from his life forever. These losses hollowed out the girl who had always been a pleaser, a good girl. This memoir is the story of the life I carved from those losses, of the ways in which grief brings us to compassion and acceptance. When I wrote WITHOUT A MAP, I imagined that about one hundred people would ever read it. Instead, it—and my life—are very much in the world. At first I balked at this exposure, at the overwhelming response of readers. But I have come to understand why so many people respond so powerfully to this book: no matter what the specific story is, we all know love and loss and sorrow, and the hard, hard work of learning to really love, to accept and forgive the wrongs we have known. It is vitally important that we speak our stories, creating a blueprint for how to live a life. Please visit my website, www.meredithhall.org. Email marketing@beacon.org to enter a random drawing in which my publisher, Beacon Press, will give away five signed copies of the hardcover edition. Thanks for your attention, Meredith Hall |