The Option: A memoir of suicide, mystery, and finding our way

ISBN-13: 9781536842371 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 186 str.

Karin Stahl

Opis

On September 11, 2002, when many were remembering the senseless loss of life of the previous year, Kristina Stahl's parents were plunged into a personal tragedy of suicide. Their daughter, an All-American athlete, teacher and coach, had taken her own life. As high achievement and striving for perfection turn into performance anxiety, depression and terror, Kristina chooses "the option" of suicide. No one, not her parents, her colleagues, even her closest friends, see the signs, as Kristina was perfect - at masking her anguish. And so the mystery of why and how this could happen compels Kristina's mother to retrace and investigate her daughter's life through the extensive writings she left behind. In this healing and ultimately triumphant memoir, the reader journeys through the days, weeks and years following the heartbreaking loss, piecing together the clues to the depth of Kristina's despair. This memoir of a parent's worst nightmare is deeply moving, written with raw honesty and the relentless pursuit of a mother seeking answers. At times heart-wrenching and warm, humorous and reflective, this poignant memoir engages the reader in a mother's search to find her daughter's voice, and then her own. Readers will recognize their own grief and losses along the way, while gaining understanding of those struggling with anxiety and the terrifying suicide option no one should choose. A companion book, Silent Warrior: Finding Voice After Suicide, is a collection of Kristina's writings published after her death. Edited by Karin Stahl, Silent Warrior completes the mother-daughter journey.