Saving Ellen

A Memoir of Hope and Recovery
A coming-of-age memoir that follows a large, working-class Irish family as it plunges into chaos in the wake of a terminal diagnosis—and the author's own hidden struggle to endure when her sister's disease becomes the dark star around which they all revolve.

“A story for anyone who has refused to give up on someone, including themselves. With her ever-expanding heart, she helps us find the words for unspeakable grief and the map to forgiveness.” —Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

"Broke my heart and renewed my belief in the triumph of the human spirit . Told in the evocative, crystal-clear prose of a writer with a feminist sensibility and the wisdom accrued from living a full life, Casey’s family story is one I’ll fondly recall long after other memoirs will have faded from my memory.” —Wally Lamb, New York Times bestselling author of She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True

“Candid, eloquent, emotionally engaging, intellectually thought-provoking, exceptionally well-written, organized, and presented.” —Midwest Book Review

“Vulnerable, raw writing . a profoundly detailed, poignant read." —Kirkus Reviews

Financial privation and her father’s drunken scenes formed the backdrop to Maura Casey's childhood, but her sister Ellen’s years-long struggle with kidney disease consumed her whole family. Determined to see Ellen live to adulthood, her mother fought medical advice to donate a kidney at a time when organ transplants were medical miracles. She concealed the true impact of that decision, which would affect the family for years to come.

Set in Buffalo amidst the tumult of the 1960s and 70s, Saving Ellen traces the author's recovery from alcoholism and sexual assault and tells of her irrepressible older sister Ellen, who fought to claim her dream of becoming an athlete; her smart, feminist mother, whose World War II Army service prepared her to manage her own platoon of six children; and her adulterous, alcoholic father who, at the end, was haunted by his shortcomings and regrets. Despite the hard truths of her childhood, Saving Ellen is ultimately a story of humor at unexpected moments as well as the grace of reconciliation and gratitude.

Saving Ellen will appeal to those who have endured the stress of caring for a chronically ill family member, with all the fraught choices that entails. Readers who have experienced the unique insanity of living in a large alcoholic family will recognize the mix of madness and humor that forms the foundation of daily life. Casey's story has parallels to Monica Wood’s When We Were the Kennedys, which details the struggle her family began when her father died of a heart attack, and Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle, with its tale of family dysfunction and siblings trying to help one another cope in a dilapidated house with an unstable father.

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