Vicki Forman’s This Lovely Life: A Memoir of Premature Motherhood lands amidst debates over the state of the healthcare system and of women’s rights within that system. The book chronicles Vicki’s struggle through that system, from her choices denied to the insensitivity of doctors. At twenty-three weeks pregnant, Vicki gave birth to one-pound twins, Evan and Ellie. She begged that they not be resuscitated, but was denied by California state law. Four days later, Ellie passed. Evan, however, survived infancy, but not without disabilities: he was blind, could not speak, and relied on a feeding tube to swallow. Vicki’s subsequent years with Evan are filled with guilt, anger, imbalance, and mostly, a mother’s ability to love her children and out of that love, to develop uncanny strength.

For you reading this, you are doing so because you have experienced something that makes this powerful book all too relatable. Your blog discusses your own similar experiences, with premature birth, raising disabled children, or your struggles with difficult choices, and how you cope. I’d like to offer you the chance to read Vicki’s story and discuss on your sites the book that Kirkus Reviews calls, “A searing tale of heartache and impressive depth of character.”

Please let me know if you’re interested in a review copy This Lovely Life by sending your mailing address.

Thanks,

Liz Hamel
Publicity Intern
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
222 Berkeley St.
Boston, MA 02116
617.351.5419
elizabeth.hamel@hmhpub.com

“Forman’s enormously affecting memoir … poses challenging questions about parenthood and human compassion.”

– Publishers Weekly