Hazelden Publishes Softcover Edition of Best-Selling A Broken Heart Still Beats After Your Child Dies.Health & Lifestyle Writers CENTER CITY, Minn.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 18, 2000 Literary Anthology Offers "Full Choir of Voices" On Experiencing This Life-Shattering Loss Anne McCracken was a former newspaper reporter and feature writer. Mary Semel was a psychiatric social worker. When they met, they had two things in common: they had lost their sons, and they had lost their way. Out of their unbearable losses came a book that was to change the lives of grieving parents everywhere: A Broken Heart Still Beats After Your Child Dies. A heart-wrenching, remarkable compilation of poetry, fiction, and essays about the pain, stages of grief, coping, and healing process after the death of a child, Broken Heart is uncompromisingly authentic, true to its audience. As co-editor Anne McCracken states in her introduction: " ... if a poem or passage spoke to our hearts, we included it. If it was bitter, dark, and despairing, we did not shy away ... We wanted inspiration; we wanted permission to hope. But we craved validation of our feelings. We hope that this book, with its full choir of voices, offers all of that." They made the right choices. First released in hardcover in 1998, A Broken Heart Stills Beats was an instant, unlikely best-seller. Endorsed by a multitude of public figures, including George McGovern George Stanley McGovern, (born July 19, 1922) is a former United States Representative, Senator, and Democratic presidential nominee. McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election in a landslide to incumbent Richard Nixon. , Judith Viorst Judith Viorst (born February 2, 1931) is an American author, newspaper journalist, and psychoanalysis researcher. She is perhaps best known for her children's literature, such as The Tenth Good Thing About Barney (about the death of a pet) and the Alexander , Teresa Goodrich, and Anne and Stan Rice Stan Rice (November 7 1942 – December 9, 2002) was an American poet and artist and husband of writer Anne Rice (married 1961). He was a Professor of English and Creative Writing at San Francisco State University and retired as Chairman of the Creative Writing Department in , the anthology has played a significant role in the lives of ten of thousands of grieving parents. Made up of works of some of the best writers and thinkers present and past, many of them bereaved parents as well (included in its over 200 excerpts are words from Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. She was also known for her unconventional, bohemian lifestyle and her many love affairs. , Joseph Campbell Noun 1. Joseph Campbell - United States mythologist (1904-1987) Campbell , William Shakespeare, Jill Ker Conway Jill Ker Conway (born 9 October 1934) is an Australian-American author, best known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoirs, The Road from Coorain. , Rabbi Harold Kushner Harold S. Kushner is a prominent American rabbi aligned with the progressive wing of Conservative Judaism. Education Born in Brooklyn, Kushner was educated at Columbia University and later obtained his rabbinical ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in , Anne Morrow Lindbergh Anne Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906, Englewood, New Jersey – February 7, 2001, Passumpsic, Vermont) was a pioneering American aviator, author, and the spouse of fellow aviator Charles Lindbergh. , and Albert Camus), the anthology fulfilled McCracken and Semel's hope for it, and clearly has offered readers validation in their quest to bear the unbearable. Both the publisher and the co-editors hope the new softcover edition has the same effect. In the final analysis, it's difficult to discuss A Broken Heart Still Beats in terms of publishing or personal success or failure--impact comes closer, but still misses the mark. As McCracken sums up so eloquently in her introduction: " ... we found comfort in the voices of other writers. The darkness still enveloped en·vel·op tr.v. en·vel·oped, en·vel·op·ing, en·vel·ops 1. To enclose or encase completely with or as if with a covering: "Accompanying the darkness, a stillness envelops the city" us, but we now had company. Good company. And if they could make it through the night, so could we." ABOUT THE AUTHORS Anne McCracken is a former newspaper reporter and feature writer who has written about topics such as battered women, Vietnam veterans, abuse of the elderly, teen pregnancy, and AIDS. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her husband, Tom, and her 11-year-old daughter, Hollis. She lost her son, Jake, in 1989. Mary Semel is a licensed certified social worker. After ten years working in chemical dependency chemical dependency n. A physical and psychological habituation to a mood- or mind-altering drug, such as alcohol or cocaine. chemical dependency at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Psychiatric hospitals, she started a private psychotherapy practice. She lives in Baltimore with her husband, Peter. She lost her son, Alexander, in 1991. ABOUT HAZELDEN Hazelden, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1999, pioneered the model of care for alcoholism, drug addiction and related diseases that is now the most widely used in the world, and has been a leader in the recovery-related publishing field since Twenty-Four Hours A Day, the best-selling daily meditation book of all time, was published in 1954. Today, Hazelden is an international provider of products and services to aid in the prevention and recovery of alcoholism, drug addiction, and related diseases. Its web site at www.hazelden.org provides informational articles, research findings, program information, and htbookplace.org, featuring over 3,000 books, videos, and free services such as web casts, author events, hosted chats, virtual cards and medallions, and daily inspirational messages on Hope, Health, and Abundant Living. For more information about Anne McCracken, Mary Semel and other Hazelden authors, visit www.htbookplace.org and click on Author Talk. Publication date: September 2000 Softcover, 328 pp., $15.00 ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m : 1-56838-556-0 This book can be ordered now at http://www.htbookplace.org. |
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