A warm tapestry of stories highlighting connection, community, and the courage it takes to live with an open heart.
A veteran journalist explores love’s many forms through intimate conversations conducted in the small coastal town of Carmel, California.
Drawing on decades of experience asking deeply human questions during professional interviews, van Diggelen displays a gift for turning everyday encounters in her hometown into soulful moments of connection and learning. Each chapter unfolds as a conversation—sometimes playful and intimate, sometimes raw and vulnerable—in which ordinary lives reveal extraordinary reckonings with love, loss, desire, betrayal, grief, faith, aging, and resilience. The subjects come from diverse backgrounds and walks of life; they include a house cleaner from Peru (“Alicia sees cleaning as a gift of love in serving others”), a Syrian immigrant restaurateur (“You have to feelwith others”), a woman seduced by a death row prisoner (“I believed in his innocence”), and a trans woman who shines as a drag performer (“I enjoyed the attention on stage so much, I decided to take part myself”). Instead of building a prescriptive argument or larger narrative from these stories, the author illustrates the ways in which love is a lived and varied practice that is discovered and rediscovered, sustained through hardship, and expressed through art, music, caregiving, sexuality, ritual, and restraint. Van Diggelen weaves her own life experiences into these encounters, demonstrating how the love in our own lives can take new shapes when we listen and connect with our neighbors, friends, and even strangers. The backdrop of Carmel is the connective tissue in this book, serving as a reminder that profound human stories are quietly unfolding everywhere, just beyond our front doors. The author’s deeply absorbing prose honors the complexity of real, meaningful life stories, invites empathy for those around us, and affirms that love, with all its imperfections, remains a vital and animating force in our lives.
A warm tapestry of stories highlighting connection, community, and the courage it takes to live with an open heart.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2025
ISBN: 9798886799705
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Luminare Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.
The former iCarly star reflects on her difficult childhood.
In her debut memoir, titled after her 2020 one-woman show, singer and actor McCurdy (b. 1992) reveals the raw details of what she describes as years of emotional abuse at the hands of her demanding, emotionally unstable stage mom, Debra. Born in Los Angeles, the author, along with three older brothers, grew up in a home controlled by her mother. When McCurdy was 3, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she initially survived, the disease’s recurrence would ultimately take her life when the author was 21. McCurdy candidly reconstructs those in-between years, showing how “my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me in ways that will forever impact me.” Insistent on molding her only daughter into “Mommy’s little actress,” Debra shuffled her to auditions beginning at age 6. As she matured and starting booking acting gigs, McCurdy remained “desperate to impress Mom,” while Debra became increasingly obsessive about her daughter’s physical appearance. She tinted her daughter’s eyelashes, whitened her teeth, enforced a tightly monitored regimen of “calorie restriction,” and performed regular genital exams on her as a teenager. Eventually, the author grew understandably resentful and tried to distance herself from her mother. As a young celebrity, however, McCurdy became vulnerable to eating disorders, alcohol addiction, self-loathing, and unstable relationships. Throughout the book, she honestly portrays Debra’s cruel perfectionist personality and abusive behavior patterns, showing a woman who could get enraged by everything from crooked eyeliner to spilled milk. At the same time, McCurdy exhibits compassion for her deeply flawed mother. Late in the book, she shares a crushing secret her father revealed to her as an adult. While McCurdy didn’t emerge from her childhood unscathed, she’s managed to spin her harrowing experience into a sold-out stage act and achieve a form of catharsis that puts her mind, body, and acting career at peace.
The heartbreaking story of an emotionally battered child delivered with captivating candor and grace.Pub Date: Aug. 9, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-982185-82-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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