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Breathe

A Memoir of Motherhood, Grief, and Family Conflict

Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

About The Book

Kelly Kittel didn’t know the true meaning of the phrase “in the wrong place and the wrong time” until she fell victim to just such a circumstance—and lost her infant son as a result. In the wake of their son’s death, Kittel and her husband are overcome with grief—and they’re still trying to make sense of their loss when, a mere nine months later, their family doctor makes a terrible mistake during Kittel’s pregnancy and they are forced to bury a second child. And when they decide to press malpractice charges, things only get worse: they end up having to battle not only the medical system but also their own family in a court of law, all while raising their other three children and trying to heal from the pain of living through the deaths of two sons. Achingly raw and beautifully narrated, Breathe is a story of motherhood, death, family, and conflict—and, ultimately, how to embrace love, honesty, and joy even in the face of tragedy.

About The Author

Kelly Kittel is a fish biologist by trade but a writer at heart. She is married with five living children, her best work beyond compare. She lives with her husband and two youngest children in Rhode Island but her favorite writing space is in her yurt on the coast of Oregon. She has been published in magazines and anthologies and has written many notes to teachers, but this is her first book.

Product Details

  • Publisher: She Writes Press (May 14, 2014)
  • Length: 382 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781938314797

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Raves and Reviews

"People always ask me why I write about loss and grief. And I tell them that I write about loss and grief because when I do, I'm also writing about love, and hope, and family, and all the big messy glorious things in our lives. Kelly Kittel understands that. In Breathe, she bares her broken heart, and shows us all courage and hope and, mostly, love."
—Ann Hood, author of the memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief and The Knitting Circle

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