For Lawson

by Sarah Comer

FOR LAWSON is the true story of two couples–from two different generations–whose paralleling stories of trying to get sober for love have two very different outcomes. The first time Sarah met Lawson at a lake when they were sixteen, she knew there was something about him that stood out from anyone she’d ever met–yet there was a lot her 16-year-old self didn’t know that day. She didn’t know she would spend time with Lawson in high school and get to know the teenage boy who had dreams of making it big in the music industry, and whose straight-edge attitude towards drugs and alcohol would clash with her wild ways–or that she would continue to think about him after they’d graduated and gone out into the world to start their adult lives. She didn’t know they would meet again in their thirties and she would discover that Lawson was now a man whose life, and dreams, were being threatened by a serious drinking problem. And that she would try to help him by telling him her mother’s story of trying to get sober with a man that she was starting to build a new life with–only to end tragically. Most of all, Sarah’s 16-year-old self didn’t know it would end up being Lawson and what they would go through together to shine a whole new light on substance abuse, self-honesty, and the road to recovery.

410 pages, Paperback

Published February 2, 2024

Reviews

[Mj · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Lawson is humiliating and heartbreaking in all of the ways it should be - in the ways real life is. Reading through it was like replaying a movie of my own life in the past few years, though I hope to God I'm able to start making changes now so that I don't continue on this path for nearly as long as she did. I discovered the book (a "not for resale" edition I probably shouldn't have had access to!) in a community leave-it library as I was boondocking through Petaluma myself - truly meant to be. Thank you for finally writing your story Sarah, I'm so glad you've found peace.