Lady by the River: A collection of personal stories about persevering through challenging times.

by Yvette Prior, Mark Bialczak (With), Kristin Rybrandt (With)

This book offers stories of perseverance from nine diverse authors, with different ages, gender, race, and faiths. Each author shared a unique experience, or story, about pushing on and overcoming. A lady by the river, someone hurting and broken, inspired this book, but the stories are for everyone because life has so many ups and downs. One of the ways we succeed in persevering is by connecting with others and this book offers human connection with the hope that you might be fortified. Some authors offer direct perseverance tips while others provide narrative so we can extract what we choose. Mark noted how companionship and patience helped him recover from divorce, grief, and job displacement. Mabel showed us that determination to work hard, with patience and integrity, helped her to find rich contentment while passionately pursuing the art of writing. Ana processed her past with us, showing us how she turned pain and mistreatment into motivation, to then later dispense grace from a place of strength. Jeffrey shared culture rich contemplations and noted that his relationship with God filled his biggest void. He also reminded us that humans are always growing. Mahesh brought us picturesque places from his past, while sharing how he opened his mind to see humanity with a loving heart and learned what it means to let it be. Chad, who found meaning from the meaningless, used a fictional piece to remind us of the simple beauty of friendship and that we can keep our breath and mind steady no matter what happens. Sherri noted that despite struggling, we could still find fulfillment. She kept planting those roses and leaving them behind for others, gripping contentment while her roots were uprooted. Kristen shared about the human tendency to numb and escape, while pointing out that contentment comes not from the absence of stress, but from learning to embrace challenge while strategizing and changing our response. Yvette ended with thoughts about self-care and increasing self-awareness, while noting that anger, regret, and comparing can interfere with persevering. She also reminded us that we need a customized approach for helping others and for dealing with our own trials. Life changes, and so do we, which is why different situations might need different strategies.Challenging circumstances are guaranteed to come and go, making the perseverance discussion continuously relevant. There is a melting pot vibe found within these pages and this book will add spice and flavor to your life, just like seasoning is used to enrich food. However, even with all of this variety, we have the shared theme of pushing on and we hope it encourages and inspires all who read.

152 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2017

About the author

Yvette Prior is based in the southeastern United States and is a work psychologist and author. Her research focuses on employee motivation, and her creative work spans flash fiction, free verse poetry, and collaborative anthologies.

Reviews

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book by the editor in exchange for an honest review. I personally know some of the authors in this collection and found their stories of strength to be inspiring! From Mabel Kwong's determination to call herself a writer to Sherri Matthews' symbolic planting of flowers, I moved from story to story soaking up the lessons. As well, editor Yvette Prior's visual poetry was great, as were her words about health in the end of the read. I plan to re-read those last few chapters to glean even more from them.

My conclusion to give this less than 5 stars is because I feel it would be stronger as 3 separate books. One book for motivating stories, one for poems, and one for health/nutritional topics. I prefer one writing genre per book, but I know not everyone agrees. In summary, I recommend the read!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays about perseverance. I enjoyed the varied of perspectives this book offered. Not only are the challenges in our lives all different but ways that we approach those challenges also vary... a lot... that was my takeaway from this book.
I purchased this book because I know the editor and one of the contributing authors.

[Rebecca Rossi · Rating 3 out of 5]

My friend Mabel Kwong features her story in this book - it was truly inspiring!