The Goodbye Diaries: A Mother-Daughter Memoir

by Marisa Bardach Ramel

Two months to live. That's what the doctor says. Sally responds with grace and optimism. Marisa responds by closing herself off. If her mother is going to die before she graduates from high school, why even try. Cancer has already ruined everything. Honest and heartfelt, The Goodbye Diaries offers a touching glimpse into both sides of a terminal diagnosis--the one who will leave and the one who will be left behind. Sally and Marisa have always shared a rare closeness, but their relationship is unrecognizable when Marisa cannot figure out how to be there for Sally as she struggles through stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Only seventeen, Marisa avoids her mother's illness by filling her life with perfect prom dresses and imperfect boyfriends. But when Marisa throws herself into a tumultuous relationship, Sally performs a final act of motherhood to prepare her daughter for life without a mom. Told in alternating voices, Sally and Marisa reveal their fears, their frustrations, and their fierce connection to each other. This poignant mother-daughter memoir is an intimate look at unconditional love during a heartbreaking goodbye.

Genres: Memoir

269 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 7, 2019

About the author

Marisa Bardach Ramel is author of The Goodbye Diaries: A Mother-Daughter Memoir (Wyatt-MacKenzie, May 2019). She’s a former magazine editor who has written for Seventeen, Prevention, Woman’s Day, Glamour, HuffPost, POPSUGAR, xoJane, Modern Loss, and more. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, toddler boy, and baby girl.

Reviews

[Madison Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story about a daughter and her mom fighting cancer and their journey to letting go and fighting the disease together

[Neha Khanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much! Its raw, amusing, heart warming, poignant, authentic and stays with you. It surfaced so many memories and feelings for me on so many levels - as Laura, Marisa, Sally - everyone will be able to relate this book because we have all been or know these women in our lives. I am so grateful that I came across this book!