Author:Anne Nolan,Linda Nolan
"It's ok to be scared, to feel lonely... we'll get through it, because we have to."
For more than 40 years Linda and Anne have performed side by side as members of iconic Irish girl group The Nolans. But in 2020 the sisters sat next to each other for a very different experience. Soon after returning home from filming their hit TV series The Nolans Go Cruising, with their sisters Coleen and Maureen, Linda and Anne received devastating cancer diagnoses within days of each other and soon began gruelling rounds of chemotherapy together. It was a stark reminder of how cruel life can be and, of course, of their beloved sister Bernie, who also faced and lost the same battle.
Stronger Together is Linda and Anne's story. A reflection on their close-knit relationship, in the limelight and behind the scenes, and of how family helped them hold it all together when things got tough. Deeply personal, incredibly moving and told with trademark humour, it's a story they hope will help you too.
Most parenting advice tells us how we can better parent our children, but not why this can feel so hard. Dr Emma Svanberg focuses on how to bolster ourselves as parents so that parenting can feel like less of a challenge. Her voice provides a much-needed sense of relief for parents under pressure.
—— Anna Whitehouse, bestselling author and presenterDr Svanberg's warm, clear words have a powerful way of cutting through the noise to meet parents where they're at. Emma's non-judgemental, compassionate approach finds us seeking out her fantastic tools and insights, and feeling supported in parenting our children. This book is a gift for parents, and has the power to impact the generations to come, as she works alongside us to grow in confidence and thrive in our parenting.
—— Anna Mathur, Psychotherapist and bestselling authorIn Parenting For Humans, Emma Svanberg holds your hand through parenting - and that's something we all need! You will learn why you parent the way you do, how to grow into your own parenting role and, ultimately, how to parent the unique child you have
—— Dr Becky Kennedy, clinical psychologist, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Good InsideWhat I love about Emma's writing is that it helps you question yourself and your approaches without judgement. She encourages you to be curious about how you respond to things, which helps create understanding and acceptance. When you become a parent there is no manual, it's a big very steep learning curve, but sometimes I feel like Emma is a fairy godmother - guiding me through it bit by bit.
—— Daisy Upton - The Five Minute MumIn this important book, Dr Svanberg helps parents in a novel way - not by offering parental advice, but instead, getting parents to think about and know themselves better. To learn about the things that have shaped them, to understand more about heir feelings, beliefs, hopes and values - and how from this position, they can be the best version of themselves as a parent. Highly recommended reading.
—— Dr Chris Irons, Clinical Psychologist, Author, Creator of The Self-Compassion AppThis is a book everyone needs to read. Whether we have children or not, we all grew up in this toxic soup and we're all carrying the scars. With integrity, authenticity and compassion, Louis shows that all of us can heal, and must, if we are to usher in a world we'd be proud to leave to our children.
—— Manda ScottFunny and tender
—— SunAfter reading this memoir-in-essays by the warm, wise, wry, and wonderful CJ Hauser, author of the viral Paris Review essay "The Crane Wife," you'll have to go fix your face. Were you crying laughing or just crying? Both? Splash some cold water on your cheeks. That's it. Now, go forth in peace with a new understanding of what it means to live and love
—— Garden & Gun, Best Southern Books of 2022A deeply personal and vivacious memoir . . . eye-wateringly funny . . . [and] intensely introspective as she focuses on what she is looking for and what she feels is missing
—— Irish ExaminerStunning and interrogative. . . Brilliant. . . Calling Hauser 'honest' and 'vulnerable' feels inadequate. She embraces and even celebrates her flaws, and she revels in being a provocateur. . . Much has been written on the themes Hauser excavates here, yet her perspective is singular, startlingly so. Many narratives still position finding the perfect match as a measure of whether we've led successful lives. The Crane Wife dispenses with that. For that reason, Hauser's worldview feels fresh and even radical
—— Oprah DailyIntimate, all-too-relatable magic. Hauser writes like she's whispering hard-earned secrets to a friend, picking apart how she has been held hostage to her own fantasies about love and happiness in warm and vulnerable scenes. . . What a gift it is, to have the curtains lift and let us all in
—— Electric LitAs Hauser grapples with the changing shape of her life story, it's fitting that the shape of each essay and, indeed, the shape of the collection itself, are self-consciously experimental in form. . . Reading The Crane Wife is a bit like following Hauser into the Mirror Maze, her voice as narrator guiding the way through and out. Whether writing about familial or cultural stories, each text becomes a mirror in which Hauser sees herself reflected back. And in her willingness to turn inward, to truly face herself, Hauser's essays open outward, becoming themselves mirrors into which readers might gaze
—— PloughsharesI absolutely LOVED these essays. I knew I ought to ration myself to one a day in order to prolong the joy and fascination of them, but I just couldn't: I had to carry on reading and reading, like eating a whole packet of jelly babies in one sitting. What a fantastic, original, funny and touching voice! C J Hauser is a wondrous writer. This book will give so much happiness
—— Cressida Connolly, author of AFTER THE PARTYCompassionate and funny and brave. The book is a masterclass in life writing, and a lesson in how to live a life outside the narratives that would contain us. CJ is a master story weaver. I was left wanting more, in the best way possible
—— Charlie Gilmour, author of FeatherhoodIn The Crane Wife, Hauser undertakes a new way for her to tell stories from her life, playing with history and personal history, exploring the possible hidden truths in her family's past and her own. The result is like interconnected short stories but about her life, the person she is and was, maybe even the person she never knew herself to be. Funny, exciting, vulnerable - truly visionary.
—— Alexander Chee, author of QUEEN OF THE NIGHT and HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVELThe Crane Wife more than delivers on the immense promise of the viral essay that served as its source. My goodness is it funny, but also so devastatingly honest and bracing. Reading it is like taking a long road trip with your wisest, sharpest friend and talking the entire way.
—— R. Eric Thomas, bestselling author of Here For ItThe Crane Wife is brilliant and beautiful - the vulnerability of her viral essay is expanded to include immense humour, pondering and further misadventures of the heart. An absolute must-read. I will be gifting this book all year long
—— Frances Cha, internationally bestselling author of IF I HAD YOUR FACEIn this perceptive and probing work, Hauser brilliantly parses the myths that shaped her understanding of love. . . Sparkling. . . A thrillingly original deconstruction of desire and its many configurations
—— Publishers Weekly, starred reviewHauser is a delightful and agile writer, capable of speaking in multiple registers, but what all of her essays have in common is honesty, wisdom, a certain loopiness-she's an old soul with a fresh perspective and an energetic, wandering mind. The result is an imaginative and beautiful memoir, one that'll be passed through the secret sisterhood of crane wives for years.
—— Jennifer SeniorReaders looking for something a little different in a memoir will not be disappointed. The strongest essays exemplify Hauser's keen awareness about life so far: things don't always work out as planned, love is complicated, and trusting your gut is, sometimes, the best option.
—— Library JournalPerceptive and witty
—— Shelf AwarenessIntimate, witty and beautifully crafted
—— Elle"I am a kind of breakup pro," Hauser writes late in this lively, thoughtful, and often funny set of personal essays-at a point when the reader has learned much about how unlucky in love she's been. . . Hauser makes a welcome effort to talk about both love and culture in unconventional ways. . . A smart, inviting, and candid clutch of self-assessments
—— Kirkus ReviewsA staccato, funny, barbed, metaphor-laced, and thought-provoking memoir-in-essays. . . No matter her focus, Hauser's deductions about human nature are always arresting, delving, fresh, and exhilarating
—— BooklistWhile it's always difficult to summarize an essay collection, what holds The Crane Wife together is Hauser's unpacking of emotional truths: who do we love, and why, and what happens when they're gone? When we're alone? When we forget what it was like to love them?
—— LitHub