Publisher: She Writes Press

ISBN: 978-1647422257

It's amazing how something that seems like it might be the end of your life can sometimes later feel like the beginning. The author of this memoir, Amy Turner, was almost killed in 2010 by a pickup truck that mowed her down when she was crossing a crosswalk. Lying on the pavement, almost choking on her own dry cleaning, Amy began thinking of her life in that moment that way any of us might. She started making promises to God or whoever was listening that she would be better, smarter and more compassionate from now on, if only she could survive this.

“And then came the promises: I'm never going to obsess about my weight again. I'm never going to pressure my children. I'll never say I feel like I got hit by a truck when all I mean is that I'm tired. I'll live one day at a time. I won't carry a grudge. I'll just love.”

Amy did survive, but for a long time afterward she was plagued by the PTSD that often comes with a life-threatening accident. Recovering mentally from the accident caused Amy to think about her life in yet another way. She began remembering her childhood and looking at it in ways that she never had before.

Looking back over her father's depression and suicide attempt (a situation that made national news after he stepped out onto the ledge of his hotel window in 1957) and her mother's strictness and alcoholism, Amy found new sympathy for both her parents and herself.

Amy and her siblings all coped with the difficulties from their upbringing in different ways, one of her brother's descending into a battle with alcoholism, himself and later recovering.

Fundamentally, to me, 'On the Ledge,' is a memoir about family and how people that might seem fairly normal on the surface, may be suffering very deeply within. Amy Turner is very brave to share her story like this, and I'm so glad that she did!

There is something about this memoir that will hit so close to home for so many people. I'm so happy for her to have this book as a springboard to recovery and finding herself and I know it will help others in that way, too! Engaging and well written, this is a memoir that just about everyone can glean something powerful from and entertain at the same time.

About Amy Turner

Amy Turner was born in Bronxville, New York, and is a graduate of Boston University, with a degree in political science, and of New York Law School, with a Juris Doctor Degree. After practicing law (rather unhappily) for twenty-two years, she finally found the courage to change careers at forty-eight and become a (very happy) seventh grade social studies teacher.

A long-time meditator and avid reader who loves to swim and bike, Amy lives in East Hampton, New York, with her husband, Ed, to whom she’s been married for forty years. They have two sons. On the Ledge is Amy’s first book.