Griefland

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What to expect

Griefland. It’s a place no one wants to visit—a place without borders where language is inadequate and pain is constant. It’s a place where every morning, one awakens to the stark reality that a loved one will never be seen, heard—or embraced—again. This is a place that Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller know all too well, for both of them, when they met, had lost a child to drug addiction. Both of them had also enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class life—until it was rocked by the sudden death of a son Alex, and a daughter, Rachel.

Griefland provides an intimate portrait of what tragedy does to the human soul, how it changes one’s life, and most important, how it can be survived. With achingly beautiful language, this book explores the acute moment-to-moment experience of grief. But it also transcends that and speaks to the redemptive power of friendship, trust, intimacy, and love. Together they discover a will and desire to move forward, recognizing that life is the ultimate prize for those who survive this excruciating journey.

Critics Review

  • “By exploring Griefland together, Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller remind us
    that the only way to traverse this terrain, so studded with landmines
    and bottomless chasms, is to hold someone’s hand. A journey through
    Griefland is not a welcome passage, but discovering that you don’t have
    to make it alone makes each step a little easier.”

    Carla Malden, author of AfterImage

  • “It’s the tragedy no one wants to imagine: the death of our child.
    These moms had me from the first chapter. From the honesty of their raw
    pain to the ways they helped each other through words that spoke of
    memories, anger, comfort, and eventual acceptance, I fell in love with
    the children they lost and the friendship they forged. You will learn,
    empathize, shed tears, share a laugh—and, if you need it, find comfort
    from the beautiful words that helped these two authors heal themselves
    and each other. Full of insight, emotion, and unforgettable images that
    honor the process of parenting and the value of connection.”

    Randye Kaye, author of Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope

  • “Loss and grief are definitive in the human condition, and the loss of achild
    trumps all. In Griefland, Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller conjure an
    anatomy of loss, and the grim climb back to a livable life after it,
    even though those lives will be forever changed.”

    Leslie Heywood, author of Pretty Good for a Girl and The Proving Grounds

  • “Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller…courageously write their way into
    the darkest of the dark nights and they refuse to blink. Their writing
    takes us deep into pain without apology. They are relentless in their
    prose, in their honesty…Bacon and Miller have survived, continue
    to survive, and have rendered their journey in a poetic prose that is
    both heartbreaking and inspiring.”

    Doug Rice, author of Dream Memoirs

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