Author Event: Margaret Mandell

Every year, more than a million women find themselves grappling with the devastating loss of a life partner-a loss that shatters their present and leaves their future in doubt. At 65, Margaret Mandell faces this heart-wrenching reality when she loses her husband of 45 years to a fast-moving disease. The bed is now half-empty, her body betrays her, and laughter seems elusive.

In the depths of longing and haunted by memories, Mandell embarks on a journey of healing through the written word. She begins to write letters to the man she loved in a poignant process of retracing their shared history. But when a tender-hearted college professor steps quietly into her life and listens attentively as Mandell reads her accumulating stack of letters out loud, her world is transformed in profound and unexpected ways.

And Always One More Time is a story that delves deep into the human experience, reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's A Grief Observed in its wisdom and Joyce Carol Oates's A Widow's Story in its suspense. It offers universal truths about love, loss, and resilience, much like Steve Leder's The Beauty of What Remains. With potent and swift-moving words, this book can be devoured in a single sitting. It is a beacon of hope for those navigating the aftermath of the greatest loss.

Darwin once wrote survival of the fittest means survival of the most adaptable. Margaret Mandell's life story is one of adaptation to changing circumstances. She has been a college teacher and doctoral candidate, a mother of two, an entrepreneur, an independent school admissions director, a triathlete, and a certified yoga instructor. When her husband of many years passed away, she became a widow, a woman still in the midst of becoming. Her debut memoir, And Always One More Time, tells the story of her next act and new, sustaining love. Excerpts have appeared in The Metaworker Literary Magazine, Brevity Blog, NextTribe, Oldster Magazine, and the Daring to Tell podcast.

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