Persephones Children, Rowan McCandless
Persephones Children, Rowan McCandless
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
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Persephone's Children
A Life in Fragments

Author: Rowan McCandless

Narrator: Deanna Anthony

Unabridged: 6 hr 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/18/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

After years of secrecy and silence, Rowan McCandless leaves an abusive relationship and rediscovers her voice and identity through writing.

She was never to lie to him. She was never to leave him; and she was never supposed to tell.

Persephone's Children chronicles Rowan McCandless's odyssey as a Black, biracial woman escaping the stranglehold of a long-term abusive relationship. Through a series of thematically linked and structurally inventive essays, McCandless explores the fraught and fragmented relationship between memory and trauma. Multiple mythologies emerge to bind legacy and loss, motherhood and daughterhood, racism and intergenerational trauma, mental illness and resiliency.

It is only in the aftermath that she can begin to see the patterns in her history, hear the echoes of oppression passed down from unknown, unnamed ancestors, and discover her worth and right to exist in the world.

About Rowan McCandless

Rowan McCandless is an award-winning author of fiction and creative nonfiction, and serves as the creative nonfiction editor for The Fiddlehead. She has been longlisted for the Journey Prize, won the Constance Rooke Creative Non-Fiction Prize, and received gold for One of a Kind Storytelling at the National Magazine Awards. Rowan lives in Winnipeg.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ravina on April 29, 2021

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review! Through Persephone’s Children, Rowan McCandless has created a unique and beautifully crafted memoir that will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading. McCandless employs a variety of techniques throughout h......more

Goodreads review by Kerry on November 22, 2021

All right, this book is excellent. Which is remarkable because a collection of "fragments," you'd think, would be inherently raw and unpolished. Especially when the fragments themselves are so curious in form: the essay as crossword puzzle, as drama script, as quiz, as diagnosis. Pretty cool, right?......more

Goodreads review by Maria on August 15, 2023

This is a unique memoir that creatively details Rowan’s life before, during, and after she escapes her soul crushing domestic abuse situation. Her journey is not easy, and there were many factors of a failed system that ultimately lead her to her relationships. But her healing journey is remarkable,......more

Goodreads review by Steph on March 18, 2023

I loved Rowan’s experimental and creative use of form as well as her bravery in rediscovering her voice and sharing her story.......more

Goodreads review by Holly on June 13, 2021

Persephone's Children was provided for free by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read this on my kindle. 5/5 ⭐ The goddess Persephone has to straddle two worlds. As a mixed race woman, Rowan McCandless relates. In a collection of essays, Rowan shares with us her life. She shares her traum......more