Press Release of Stark Raving Sober: Self-Help Book Reads Like a Novel

SELF-HELP BOOK READS LIKE A NOVEL

Stark Raving Sober, a memoir, focuses on the author's harrowing experiences during the 25 years she was married to two alcoholics. One was mentally and physically abusive; the other was emotionally diabolical.

"This is a true story," author Donna Bailey-Thompson states. "I fabricated nothing."

The first person narrative recounts how Bailey-Thompson's exposure to others' alcoholic behavior confused her thinking, drained her of her self-esteem, and drove her to the brink of murder. She also carries the reader through her determination to regain her sense of self, her balance.

"I hope Stark Raving Sober will help readers who need empowerment to break out of the debilitating smog of helplessness," Bailey-Thompson said. "And to those who are dumbfounded as to why anyone remains in an abusive relationship, I hope these pages will provide perspective and appreciation of why a seemingly simple, logical decision is paralyzed by complicated emotions."

In January 1983, Northeast Magazine [The Hartford Courant, Sunday edition] published her 6000-word article Stark Raving Sober as its cover story. Many new people arrived at Al-Anon meetings in Connecticut and nearby Massachusetts carrying the magazine piece. "Agents urged me to write a book and I did; but although a number of major publishers said they liked the book, they doubted it would sell because neither I nor the alcoholic men I married were celebrities," Bailey-Thompson said.

"I put the manuscript away, began a rewrite in the ‘90s but again set it aside because she had begun publishing Challenges, a monthly magazine that concentrated on codependency." When ‘codependency' became a pejorative term, Challenges broadened its scope to encompass "anyone in recovery from anything." including domestic violence. Its subscribers ranged from Alaska to the Virgin Islands.

Immediately following the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, Bailey-Thompson designed a large white button with bright red lettering:"Remember Nicole 1959-1994." A year later she sold the rights to the Brown family for $1. By 1998, many recovery facilities had closed because insurance no longer covered treatment, and advertising tapered off. "When the red ink drowned out the black, Challenges retired to its website," Bailey-Thompson said.

Since 2001, Bailey-Thompson's freelance writing has included reviewing classical music and theater, both professional and community productions, and coaching memory writing and creative writing groups.

A year ago, a voiceless insistence needled Bailey-Thompson to rewrite, update, and finish Stark Raving Sober. The book is available at Broadside Bookshop in Northampton MA, Edwards Books in Springfield MA, Pam's Paperbacks in Wilbraham MA, and online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.