Living Without The One You Cannot Live Without #Giveaway

Many of my regular readers over at thriftymommastips.com know this past year has been a hard one. Right before Mother's Day one year ago my Mom passed away. The loss of a parent is much harder than I could have ever imagined. It is fraught with little emotional land mines you sometimes don't see until you are crying or heartsick.

Recently a publishing contact sent me this book Living Without the One You Can't Live With Out: Hope and Healing After Loss. I assumed the book would be self help, but it is a different creature entirely. Living Without the One You Can't Live Without is a subtle, quiet, realistic book of poems by a lovely remarkable woman named Natasha Josefowitz. Josefowitz published this shortly after her husband of many years passed away. They were married 35 years. Josefowitz was born in Paris to Russian parents. She earned her Master's degree at 40 and her PHD at 50. That alone is reason to support this author. What a brilliant career feat! She taught the first course in the US on women and management in 1976. She is remarkably accomplished, and much of that achievement came later in life. I liked her even before I picked the book up and began reading.

The poetry within Living Without the One You Can't Live Without is sombre, and realistic and dripping with emotion. It takes you into the doctor's offices and the recovery spaces at home, then it whisks you off to the funeral, the days and months after when survival is your operating mode. This is a lovely book, simple and true. The poems aren't forced or rhyming. They are lyrical at times and not at others. They are mostly helpful for anyone who has experienced loss. The poems are sometimes hard to read in a psychological sense, but they speak clearly to the experience of grief. I really like this book and I am struggling to find the words to tell you why exactly, which is odd for me. But I want to say that there is comfort in common experience and this is the place where Living Without the One You Cannot Live Without excels and dwells. It will not take away grief or pain, and it will not preach how to grieve at you, instead Josefowitz's words will help you feel less alone and there is much to be said for that.

I have a copy of this book to give to one of my readers. Follow the instructions below and PLEASE don't forget to leave me an email address or something to help me track you down if you win. Good Luck! This is open to Canada and the US.

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