Why is it that with everything women have accomplished, we still struggle with our feelings about our bodies? Perhaps it’s because, in our society, body image has become a loaded term. Whether we’re young girls or elderly women, we are bombarded by the media’s idea of perfection: lithe young models with perfect skin and smooth bodies too often achieved through eating disorders and fad diets. And no matter what product the manufacturer is trying to sell, the substance of that message remains the same: women are imperfect and, unless we succumb to the hype, that imperfection will thwart our chances for happiness.

In FOR KEEPS: Women Tell the Truth About Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance, twenty-seven gifted authors write personal essays about how body image has colored, changed or enriched their lives...or how life’s events have changed their body image. Many of these authors have experienced some transformative moment when they thought Aha! and life was never the same. Whether the focus is illness, depression, our mothers, or growing older, the writing is profound, sometimes hilarious, and always engaging. What better than humor and the naked truth to celebrate and flaunt our bodies…and our attitudes toward them? Whoever we are, the way we feel about our bodies profoundly affects the way we live our lives.

Praise for FOR KEEPS:

"Nora Ephron’s bestselling I Feel Bad About My Neck has perhaps opened the door to discussing the failings of the female body and of female aging, and the 27 contributors to this collection deserve gratitude for enlarging the discussion. The essays detail a plethora of possible events associated with aging: aging mothers and mothers-in-law, one’s own increasing frailty and final illnesses. There are deaths and divorces after long-lived marriages. Other contributors write of the abrupt arrival in the world of acute or chronic illness. Two very different threads run throughout the essays. One is the degree to which each writer has found a way to retain or regain a sense of power over her life. The other is the power of childhood messages and experiences to resonate for decades. Standouts include PW Reviews director Louisa Ermelino’s luminous account of her mother’s and husband’s final illnesses, and Liza Nelson’s wonderful story of her double mastectomy—she’s thrilled to be rid of the enormous appendages that had tormented her all her life." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"Virginia Woolf once said that she hadn't been able to tell the truth
about her experiences as a body, and she doubted any woman writer had.
I wish she could read this book today. These writers tell the truth
about living in a woman's body with such honesty and grace; I love how
their essays explore, and ultimately celebrate, our vulnerable, messy,
precious embodiment." GAYLE BRANDEIS

"This book should come with a box of kleenex and a mirror. First you cry as these talented women open up their hearts and souls and then you go look in the mirror and kiss every wrinkle in celebration of the insights they've shared and the wisdom you've learned from them. Moving and memorable, a collection worth savoring." M.J. ROSE, author of THE REINCARNATIONIST, International bestseller.

Visit the Seal Press page.

Events

June 11: Los Angeles - UCLA publication party, Skirball Cultural Center

Sept. 26-28: San Luis Obispo Writers Conference - workshops in Fiction and Non-fiction

Oct. 14: Paris, France - American Library reading/lecture

Nov. 20: Fort Lauderdale, FL - Jewish Book Fair