Grief is for People by Sloane Crosley

In her first memoir, multi-New York Times bestseller Sloane Crosley reflects on the grief she feels following the death of her closest friend.

On June 27, 2019, Crosley's apartment is broken into and all her jewellery is stolen. Exactly one month later, Russell Perreault, VP Executive Director of Publicity and Social Media at Vintage Anchor, with whom Crosley worked for more than nine years, dies by suicide.

This is a book about Russell and Sloane, their shared past and how she is processing the present without him, yet her jewellery also plays an important role. It was taken from a Dutch spice cabinet the two found together at a flea market. Reflecting on the stolen dome ring, “it was his favorite,” she remembers, “he liked to hold it up to the light and look at it from underneath.” 

Crosley begins a hunt, scouring the internet and local pawn shops in an effort to find it. If she can get it back, why not Russell too? 

“Part of the frustration of suicide is that it undermines our sense of fairness,” Crosley writes. “If someone can snatch themselves out of the world, it seems only right that we should be able to snatch them back into it.”

This is essential reading for any of us who have lost and find ourselves trying to make sense in the days, weeks, and years that follow. As Crosley writes of Perreault’s death, it is “a constant ache,” continuing, “how do I keep you buried and keep you with me at the same time? This is the biggest riddle of them all.” 

From the author of Cult Classic and I Was Told There’d Be Cake, Crosley offers a unique perspective on grief. She reminds us of the importance of the present. “If I desire the kind of life you wanted me to live, one of expansion over retraction,” she reflects, “I must learn to be on the side of the living.”

Sloane Crosley by Jennifer Livingston

Sloane Crosley is the author of the novels Cult Classic and The Clasp and three essay collections: Look Alive Out There and the New York Times-bestsellers I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. Learn more at Sloane's website.

Grief is for People is available in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook formats. Check Bookshop.org or Libro.fm for a distributor near you.

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