*** Winner selected! Congratulations to Melanie in Allegan, Mich.! ***
Growing up, I wished I had an older brother — The cool, reckless kind that took me along on his crazy adventures and introduced me to new, adult things I didn’t yet know about — and also the protective kind that took me under his wing and made sure nothing bad happened to me.
Those idealized yet contradictory qualities — Is it possible to find both in one brother? Desirable? That’s what I thought about while reading Brittany Ackerman’s brief memoir-in-essays, The Perpetual Motion Machine.
This book tells the story of Brittany and her older brother Skyler’s childhood — a fairly idyllic, placid upbringing, punctuated by sudden moments of crisis, like when the siblings’ mom goads young Skyler to ice skate faster and faster, until he crashes and busts up his face.
And then, of course, the kids start growing up. Skyler finds drugs and addiction, with Brittany following suit — except Brittany finds her way back while Skyler falls further into depression, repeatedly threatening suicide.
The Perpetual Motion Machine was the winner of the Red Hen Press 2017 Nonfiction Award, and comes out on Nov. 20, 2018! The Los Angeles launch reading happens at Book Soup on Dec. 7, 2018 — when I and Nicelle Davis will join Brittany to celebrate her new book. Hope to see you there!
I’m giving away a copy of The Perpetual Motion Machine to one of my readers! All current email subscribers will be automatically entered to win the copy. Subscribe now if you’re not yet getting my occasional newsletters. The giveaway closes Nov. 20, 2018 at 11:59 pm PST. US addresses only.
Come back later this month to read an interview with Brittany Ackerman.
