Details
GusGus Press, Bedazzled Ink Publishing
110 pp. ● 5.5×8.5
$13.95 (pb) ● $5.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-960373-40-3 (pb)
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Women
FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS / Life Stages / General
Publication date: March 19, 2024
Order or purchase also via White Rabbit Books, Annie Bloom’s, Fact & Fiction, Time Enough for Books, and other fine independent bookstores.
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For more context about why I wrote this memoir, read this recent essay.
See these From First Breath to Last book group discussion questions.
REVIEWS
“From First Breath to Last: A Story about Love, Womanhood, and Aging is an honest and engaging portrayal of a topic challenging to us all. Montgomery shares intimate details in her stories that bring the reader into the room. Readers of all ages can relate to the realistic depictions included in this book, with stories that empower and inspire. This tells the tale of leadership and learning from the history of those closest to the author through the wisdom of their lived experiences. An illuminating read.” — Dr. Latrissa Lee Neiworth, Ed.D., Organizational Leadership, MA Ed., IDI QA Professor of Leadership
“Dede Montgomery honors the forested paths women wander along on their life journey starting in girlhood until they leave their bodies through the tender writings of a mother and daughter through a unique lens. Gifted with her mother’s, Patty Marilyn Daum Montgomery, own unpublished memoir, plus her doctoral thesis and other writings, Dede Montgomery entwines their separate journeys into a story filled with insight, reconciliation, whimsy, wisdom, and grief. I was left for a longing to have sat down and had a long chat with “Patty,” a keenly wise and intelligent woman, who was laying the groundwork for the current movement for understanding the value of post-menopausal women in our society in her writing and as a professor-mentor to women. Dede Montgomery’s own growth from childhood through young adulthood through to her caring for her mother at the end of her life reflects how, like the landscape of a forest, slowly changes over time, parental-child relationships too mature with age. Nature is a woven theme throughout From First Breath to Last and as you approach the end you sense Patty, like the nurse logs in a forest, is still nurturing her family, deeply loved.” — Chaplain Anne Richardson, Spiritual Companion, Founder, Nurture Your Journey
“Lyrical and lovely, this readable work offers profound, poignant observations and insights on nearly every page. It deftly weaves the narrative of a daughter entering her “crone years” with the actual diary of a fascinating mother who led an extraordinary life. It will appeal, especially, to women in midlife and beyond, who – like me,- are examining, in their “bonus years,” their own lives and relationships and choices. Ultimately, while acknowledging the complications and messiness of life, it is affirming, illuminating, and even joyful. Any mother would be thrilled by such a tender, insightful tribute from her daughter.” Mary Hoskins – Retired occupational safety and health consultant and public sector executive manager
SYNOPSIS
A mosaic of memories, events, and reflections about Dede Montgomery and her remarkable mother, with insights into the generations and circumstances they were born into that informed the women they became.Dede Montgomery returns to her own roots in From First Breath to Last, and skillfully weaves her life with her mother’s in a touching tribute to family and what matters most in their lives. She meshes passages from her mother’s memoir, journals, published book, and dissertation with her own memories and how her mother’s journey influenced her own in a celebration of womanhood.Patty Montgomery was born between the World Wars and was reborn in the 1960s and 1970s during the time women pushed through the barriers to independence and equality. She followed what she believed was the expected path for other women like her who were privileged by whiteness, education, and middle-class income. Until she couldn’t, and broke loose with support from some and criticism by others, while raising her only daughter to be self-confident and self-assured. From First Breath to Last is a treat to readers of all ages looking to embrace the wisdom from two women told through entertaining stories, fairy tales, and the advice from lives well-lived.
Available in e-book and hard copies. Support local bookstores by buying hard copy at Bookshop.org. Buy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Bedazzled Ink Book Peddler. Available through Powell’s and on the shelves of White Rabbit, Annie Bloom’s and other special independent bookstores. Request from your favorite bookstore to order from Ingram.
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