About this item
In this powerful memoir, told with fierce honesty and surprising humor, a young woman goes on a journey of healing after abortion - a road trip across the United States with a diverse crew of spiritual teachers and a caravan of new friends.Nineteen years old, a thousand miles from her Kentucky home, Kassi Underwood sat in a doctor's office, shaking with fear. She was pregnant - and broke, unwed, and struggling with alcohol. In a decision that obliterated her southern moral code, she checked into an abortion clinic. Afterward, to her surprise, she felt free. Three years later, accomplishing her wildest dreams had left her unfulfilled and thinking about the pregnancy she didn't keep. When her ex-boyfriend had a baby with someone else, she shattered. But in the depths of despair, Kassi refused to believe she would "never get over" her abortion. So she created a road map of recovery. Determined to transform, she traveled across the United States on a journey that led her to a Buddhist "water baby" ritual, a Roman Catholic retreat for abortion healing staffed by picketers, a crash course in grief from a Planned Parenthood counselor, a night in a motel with a "Midwife for the Soul," a Jewish "wild woman" celebration hosted by an eccentric rabbi - and a wedding ceremony. Dazzling with warmth and leavened by humor, this absorbing memoir captures one woman's journey of self-discovery that enraged her, changed her, and ultimately enlightened her.
About the Author
Kassi Underwood grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. Her work has been published in the New York Times, The Atlantic online, The Rumpus, Refinery29, and Guernica. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she taught on the faculty of the Undergraduate Writing Program. She has been a guest on MSNBC and HuffPost Live, featured on Upworthy, and profiled in the New York Magazine cover story, "My Abortion." Kassi lectures about personal transformation and the spirituality of abortion. She is a student at Harvard Divinity School and founder of Revolution After Abortion: The Seminar. www.kassiunderwood.com
