A Normal Life: A Memoir

Description

After an unconventional childhood that ended in the tragic death of her mother and the murder of her Alaskan mobster father, Kim Rich was left on her own at the young age of fifteen to fend for herself. Ever since then, she began a nearly lifelong pursuit in chasing what most others had-a normal life. Rich tugs at your heartstrings as you follow her journey toward normalcy, from her teen years, freshly orphaned, through her high school years spent couch-surfing at local families' homes, then through her college years, a failed first marriage, and a rising career as a journalist. Through frank and down-to-earth storytelling, Rich also tells of her grandfather's kidnapping, a frightening health crisis, and a six-year attempt to have children. Picking up right where her first memoir, Johnny's Girl, left off, A Normal Life recounts the author's vivid story of being an ordinary girl faced with extraordinary circumstances-at seemingly every turn in life-with grace, humility, and wit.

Kim M. Rich is the author of Johnny's Girl the nationally acclaimed memoir of growing up in Alaska's underworld as the only child of gambler John F. "Johnny" Rich and exotic dancer, Frances "Ginger" Rich. Johnny's Girl chronicles Alaska's mean streets and her parent's tragic lives cut short. Rich's father was murdered when she was 15; her mother had died a year later in a psychiatric institute. The book was reviewed and featured by, among others, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NPR, Glamour magazine and Entertainment Weekly. The book was adapted into a Hallmark film starring Treat Williams which aired on ABC and is still in syndication. Rich's undergraduate studies were in Journalism. She began her career with the Pulitzer-Prize winning Anchorage Daily News. She possesses an M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing from Columbia University. She continues to write and teach college. She currently lives in Lafayette, LA, with her husband and three teen daughters.

"Touching, sometimes-humorous. . . [Kim Rich] discusses her bout with breast cancer and the frightening decisions she had to make during that period. She quickly follows with her troubles conceiving a child with her second husband and the efforts they made to create a family via fertility treatments and adoption. . . vibrant and emotionally gripping. For those who read Johnny's Girl and want to know what happened next, this book has the answers." * Kirkus Reviews * "A tribute to strength of character and the kindness of friends, parental figures and strangers. It affirms the resilience of the human spirit and belief in the goodness of others." * Anchorage Daily News * "Long before the #METOO movement, there is the story of Kim Rich finding and using her voice to escape adversity and thrive on her own. A Normal Life is a gripping true story of an extraordinary woman who overcame tragic circumstances and created a grounded and loving family out of pure determination. Despite constant circling chaos in her life, Kim Rich is a hub sanity and strength." * Laura Kriska, author of The Accidental Office Lady: An American Woman in Corporate Japan * "In A Normal Life, the author of Johnny's Girl has again demonstrated her blazing talent for writing a memoir that is as much a brilliant and incisive chronicle of a unique time and place as the astonishing personal story of its author. . . In the midst of this narrative about her generation is Rich's tender, comic and poignant story of moving on from her childhood as the orphaned daughter of a gangster father and mentally ill mother to create 'a normal life' that included a successful career as a writer, marriage and children. Brilliant and compelling. Not to be missed." * Lynn E. Paulson, PhD, author of Be Her Now and life coach. * "With a warm heart and a wicked sense of humor, Kim Rich gives us the story behind the story - the years she skipped in her beautiful memoir and movie, Johnny's Girl. There are the teen years in Alaska, the time struggling to find herself, the finding, the becoming. And since this is a Kim Rich story, the kidnapped grandfather, the near-death experience and the intense struggle to find her family. It's hardly "A Normal Life" by anyone's standards. But what a great read. Uplifting and inspiring, Rich is a born storyteller." * Helene Stapinski, author Murder in Matera * Feature article: "In One Hour, I Learned I Was Adopting - & Pregnant With Twins." * She Knows *