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Living Brave

Lessons from Hurt, Lighting the Way to Hope

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"Shannon's struggle, defiance, strength, and power emanate from every page. That kind of brave can be trusted." — Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Untamed and Founder of Together Rising

For all women looking to find "hope in a hopeless world and bravery in an age that seems to lack it," comes a searing memoir by Shannon Dingle, a writer and disability advocate who has navigated loss, trauma, abuse, spiritual reawakening, and deep pain—and come out the other side still hopeful.

Shannon Dingle has experienced more than her fair share of tragedy and trauma in her life, including surviving sexual abuse and trafficking as a child that left her with lasting disabilities and experiencing faith shifts that put her at odds with the evangelical church that had been her home. Then, in July 2019, Shannon's husband was tragically killed by a rogue wave while the family was on vacation. The grief of the aftermath of losing her love and life partner sits at the heart of Living Brave, where Shannon's searing, raw prose, illustrates what it looks like to take brave steps on the other side of unimaginable loss.

Through each challenge, she reveals the ways she learned to walk through them to the other side, and find courage even through the darkest moments. Living Brave gives women permission to wrestle with difficult topics, to use their voice, to take a stand for justice, to honor the wisdom of their bodies, and to enact change from a place of strong faith.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 10, 2021
      Dingle debuts with a powerful blend of memoir and self-help in this account of how she overcame immense loss. In 2019, after her husband died in a freak accident, Dingle, 37, became a widow and single mom of six children. No stranger to tragedy, Dingle already had a book deal to write about the sexual abuse and sex trafficking she endured from her father­—“I was going to write this book from the safety and stability of our relationship.” Instead, she wrote from a place of unbearable pain about the courage it took to survive such agony, and offers advice on how others can do the same. She explores the importance of self-compassion (“give yourself permission to do it imperfectly”), how to overcome shame, what it means to practice self-care, and how to harness the power of words. In one particularly memorable passage, she reflects on a piece she wrote in 2016 about voting for Hillary Clinton as a pro-life Christian, and how standing by her unconventional views helped reconcile and strengthen her faith. While some sections may be triggering for survivors of sexual abuse, Dingle’s narrative offers a raw, affecting examination of what it takes to heal. Agent: Amy Bishop, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

    • Booklist

      Starred review from June 1, 2021
      Like Job, disability activist Dingle endures tragedy after tragedy. In her compelling memoir, she chronicles her growing up in a house of alcoholics, surviving childhood rapes, attempting suicide, living with rheumatoid arthritis, and now single-handedly raising six children, having given birth to two and adopting one from Taiwan and three from Uganda. In the summer of 2019, when she and her husband were both 37, he dies in the "freakiest of freak accidents." He was playing at the beach with three of their kids when an intense wave slammed his head into the sand. Dingle, an avid, lifelong reader, writes beautifully and effectively uses quotes from the Bible ("a time to be born, and a time to die"), poems ("you think that their dying is the worst thing that could happen; then they stay dead"), and even Harry Potter. Dingle reminds us that the world offers no guarantees. Some of her children live with disabilities or such diagnoses as cerebral palsy, autism, ADHD, epilepsy, PTSD, and anxiety; one uses a wheelchair. A wordsmith, Dingle refers to her friends, her chosen family, as her "framily." Fittingly, for this inspiring story, she gives herself a middle name: Hope.

      COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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  • English

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