Overview
Ten Minutes from Home is the poignant account of how a suburban New Jersey family struggles to come together after being shattered by tragedy.In this searing, sparely written, and surprisingly wry memoir, Beth Greenfield shares what happens in 1982 when, as a twelve-year-old, she survives a drunk-driving accident that kills her younger brother Adam and best friend Kristin. As the benign concerns of adolescence are replaced by crushing guilt and grief, Beth searches for hope and support in some likely and not-so-likely places (General Hospital, a kindly rabbi, the bottom of a keg), eventually discovering that while life is fragile, love doesn’t have to be.
Ten Minutes from Home exquisitely captures both the heartache of lost innocence and the solace of strength and survival.
Synopsis
Ten Minutes from Home is the poignant account of how a suburban New Jersey family struggles to come together after being shattered by tragedy.
In this searing, sparely written, and surprisingly wry memoir, Beth Greenfield shares what happens in 1982 when, as a twelve-year-old, she survives a drunk-driving accident that kills her younger brother Adam and best friend Kristin. As the benign concerns of adolescence are replaced by crushing guilt and grief, Beth searches for hope and support in some likely and not-so-likely places (General Hospital, a kindly rabbi, the bottom of a keg), eventually discovering that while life is fragile, love doesn’t have to be.
Ten Minutes from Home exquisitely captures both the heartache of lost innocence and the solace of strength and survival.
Publishers Weekly
Greenfield and her parents were driving home from her ballet recital when a drunk driver slammed into their car, killing her little brother, Adam, and her best friend, Kristin. Only 12 at the time, Greenfield's life as she knew it-idyllic suburban days of ballet lessons and swimming pools-was over, replaced by years of grief, guilt, intense anger, isolation, and struggles with bulimia and alcoholism. Those years also see her find purpose and success as a writer in New York, a loving partner, Kiki, and an adopted daughter. A journalist and editor, Greenfield produces a commanding memoir of healing and recovery that doesn't shrink from the suffering she and her family endured, or the often painful details that accompany the process of moving forward, while simultaneously embracing the human capacity for vulnerability and joy. Anyone who has lost loved ones too soon will find Greenfield's brutal honesty cathartic, and her hard-won progress inspiring.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
What's it like to face a devastating blow at 12 years old? Greenfield opens a window into the mixture of thoughts and feelings such an experience provokes in her candid, evocative memoir. Days before summer vacation, the Greenfield family was finishing up a wonderful evening. Beth had just performed in her annual ballet recital and they'd celebrated over ice cream with Kristin, her best friend. Coming home, their car was hit by a drunk driver. Greenfield and her parents — though injured — survived, but her adopted younger brother and Kristin were killed. In an instant, everything about Greenfield's childhood — and her future — was changed.Ten Minutes from Home takes readers through the aftermath of the accident, as Greenfield digs deeply into her childhood psyche, describing her conflicted feelings. She hated the attention she received, not because others liked her but because they felt sorry for her; and she resented that she couldn't finish the school year like the rest of her classmates.
Greenfield's book is proof positive that time does heal us, though imperfectly. Anchored with such cultural markers as Girl Scout uniforms, TV shows from the '70s and '80s, feathered hair, and flights on Eastern Airlines, Ten Minutes from Home rings true as the author reminds us that, even damaged, we go on with our lives.
"This is a book filled with heart. A courageous book. A necessary book."
— Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
Publishers Weekly
Greenfield and her parents were driving home from her ballet recital when a drunk driver slammed into their car, killing her little brother, Adam, and her best friend, Kristin. Only 12 at the time, Greenfield's life as she knew it-idyllic suburban days of ballet lessons and swimming pools-was over, replaced by years of grief, guilt, intense anger, isolation, and struggles with bulimia and alcoholism. Those years also see her find purpose and success as a writer in New York, a loving partner, Kiki, and an adopted daughter. A journalist and editor, Greenfield produces a commanding memoir of healing and recovery that doesn't shrink from the suffering she and her family endured, or the often painful details that accompany the process of moving forward, while simultaneously embracing the human capacity for vulnerability and joy. Anyone who has lost loved ones too soon will find Greenfield's brutal honesty cathartic, and her hard-won progress inspiring.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.