Patchwork: A Memoir of Love and Loss - Paperback

by Mary Jo Doig (Author)

A wife and mother of a grown son and two teen daughters, a woman enjoying her career and life, Mary Jo Doig wants nothing more from life than to live out her days embraced by the deep roots of family, friends, and her community. Tightly wrapped in a life-long protective cocoon, she has no idea how wounded she is--until, on one starless night following the death of a relative, she has a flashback that opens a dark passageway back to her childhood and the horrific secrets buried deep inside her psyche. Part mystery and part inspirational memoir, Patchwork is the riveting story of one woman who strived to live a life full of love, only to endure tragedies with two of her children and struggles in her marriages--the consequences of a mysterious life-long behavior unnoticed by her family or teachers. Like a needle stitching together a quilt, the memories Mary Jo recovers following her first flashback show her why her early years were threaded with a need to be invisible, as well as core beliefs that she was stupid, not good enough, and vastly different from her peers. Shattered by these revelations, overcome by depression, hopelessness, and a loss of trust in others, Mary Jo embarks on a healing journey through the underground of her life that ultimately leads to transformation.

Author Biography

Mary Jo Doig, for nearly twenty years, has been an editor, a women's writing circle facilitator, and life-writing enthusiast working extensively with women writing their life stories while writing her own memoir. Her stories have appeared in anthologies and periodicals, and on her blog, Musings from a Patchwork Quilt Life, (maryjod.wordpress.com), Facebook, and Twitter. Her hobbies include reading, writing, gardening, cooking, quilting, hiking, and sweet time with family, friends, and pets in the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains.