Mother-daughter memoir breaks stigma of disease
Vermont Business Magazine Rootstock Publishing announces the August 26 release of Light: A Mother and Daughter Memoir of Anorexia by Nancy Y. Levine of Shelburne, co-written with Rachel Levine-Spates of Memphis, Tenn.
Up to one in ten will die from anorexia. But Nancy Levine and her daughter Rachel didn’t know this when the disease slowly—then all too quickly—took root. While studying abroad, Rachel gave up junk food and began a new passion: running. Tanned and muscular, her family thought she looked healthy and fabulous. They didn’t notice that running and her “healthy diet” were controlling her life.
Light is a story of obsession and OCD, family history and stigma, and Rachel’s battle with life-threatening anorexia. Narrated by Nancy with excerpts and journal entries from Rachel, this memoir explores how the deadly inner voice of an eating disorder is heard, treated, and finally silenced. Blending tough scenes with humorous ones, this brave book celebrates hope and lasting recovery.
“During her residential treatment, one of Rachel’s housemates said that we should write a book. Make it honest. Get rid of the stigma, the stereotypes,” recalled Levine. “If Rachel and I help one person, one family, the writing of this book will be worth the effort.”
A former pediatric neurology nurse, Levine received her MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her work has appeared in Vermont Magazine, Mothers and Daughters: A Poetry Collection, and The Sun Magazine. Levine-Spates received her EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is the director of student well-being and social emotional learning at St. George’s Independent School in Germantown, Tenn. She provides peer support to those suffering from eating disorders.
Light: A Mother and Daughter Memoir of Anorexia (ISBN:978-1-57869-206-4) is available for the book trade through Ingram and for the public everywhere books are sold or at www.rootstockpublishing.com, with autographed copies available from Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne.
The co-authors will be in conversation with therapist Suzanne Adams at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at the Pierson Library in Shelburne. A signing and book sale with Flying Pig Bookstore will follow.
Nancy Y. Levine of Shelburne by Karen Pike.
About Rootstock Publishing
Rootstock Publishing is a curated hybrid and traditional publishing house collaborating with authors—the rootstock of creative content. Rootstock’s books have won multiple awards, including, among others, the Eric Hoffer Award, the IPPY, Foreword INDIES, the IBPA, Literary Titan, and IPNE book awards. Founded in 2017 in Montpelier, Vermont, Rootstock has published more than eighty books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s books by authors from all over the globe.
Rootstock Publishing, an imprint of Ziggy Media LLC, Montpelier, www.rootstockpublishing.com
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