Live Through This: A Novel

by Kristen McGuiness

Overview

A modern suburban western set at the edge of 2016, Live Through This is at once a family drama and political saga about a woman who is forced to face her complicated grief in order to avenge her husband's death and her own life.

LIVE THROUGH THIS is a modern-day western about love and violence, trauma and redemption, and how, in the end, the destiny which controls us, is also up to us to control.

Jane is a woman trying to reconcile the joyous mediocrity of middle-aged life. Formerly a producer for Blake Edwards, one of television’s biggest broadcasters, Jane felt destined for stardom. But when her romance and career with Blake unceremoniously ended, she found herself picking up the pieces with another dreamer gone astray, Theo, a former LA Dodger whose career was also derailed. Both recovering addicts, they began a new life of car seats, day jobs, meaningful tattoos, and the micro-aggressions of marriage.

When tragedy strikes, disrupting everything they’ve built, Jane must not only confront her past, but the potential she abandoned years before. After Blake’s new producer calls her, Jane finds herself again on center stage. Negotiating between advocacy and exploitation, Jane must decide if she is willing to fight for the dream she left behind, and against the systems that destroyed it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781959524045
Publisher:	Rise Books
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Kristen McGuiness is the LA Times bestselling author of 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life (Soft Skull Press), which was optioned by Original Films/CBS Cable with Alison Brie attached to star. She has appeared on the "Today Show," in USA Today, and in Marie Claire. She has written for numerous publications including Rolling Stone, Shondaland, Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Psychology Today, and Salon. She began her career working in publicity for St. Martin’s Press before joining the editorial departments of Simon&Schuster and Judith Regan at Harper Collins. Kristen is also is the publisher of Rise Books and the founder of Rise Writers, which provides content, coaching, and courses for people looking to write the good fight. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a Master’s degree from the American University of Paris. She lives in Ojai, CA with her husband, two children, and their dog, Peter.
Kristen McGuiness is the author of the LA Times bestseller 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life (Soft Skull Press), which was optioned by Original Films/CBS Cable with Alison Brie attached to star. She has appeared on the "Today Show," in USA Today, and in Marie Claire. 

She has written for numerous publications including Rolling Stone, Shondaland, Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, Psychology Today, and Salon. She began her career working in publicity for St. Martin’s Press before joining the editorial departments of Simon & Schuster and Judith Regan at Harper Collins. Kristen is the publisher of Rise Books and also the founder of Rise Writers, which provides coaching and courses for people who believe in radical inspiration. 

She received her Bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a Master’s degree from the American University of Paris. She lives in Ojai, CA with her husband, two children, and their dog, Peter.

 

Editorial Reviews

Live Through This isn’t just a timely and politically astute look at the hot button issue of gun violence, it’s also a thoughtful meditation on love and grief and letting go. Kristen McGuiness takes a ripped-from-the-headlines issue and makes it deeply human and personal.

Janelle Brown

Sometimes the Zeitgeist burns from within. Kristen McGuiness's Live Through This reminds us that we begin again even when our lives blow up, even after loss, after grief, after failure, we might yet find the beacons of love, living, thriving. A triumph of heart and guts. A blaze.

Lidia Yuknavitch

With Live Through This, Kristen McGuiness has, with humor, grace, and a deep understanding of what it means to be human, offered an achingly beautiful depiction of love and loss in what is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. I often forgot I was reading a novel and not just witnessing moments of someone’s life. I could not put this book down, and, in full disclosure, that’s my favorite kind of book. The kind that stays with me long after I read the last sentence, the kind where I care fiercely for the people who live within the pages.

Jennifer Pastiloff

Live Through This is a rare combination of a compulsively readable, propulsive narrative while at the same time being a politically radical stand in the age of mass gun violence and #metoo awakenings. McGuiness' medicine goes down sweet, but make no mistake, this novel is a call to action.

Gina Frangello

2023-08-01
In McGuiness’ debut novel, a woman struggles with the demons of her past and the violence of her present.

Jane Ambrose is a disillusioned, middle-aged woman who finds herself at a crossroads. It’s 2016 in the Los Angeles suburb of Montrose, California, where she and her husband, Theo, a former pitcher for the LA Dodgers, are stuck in a strained marriage. As they raise their 1-year-old daughter, Zoe, they bicker frequently about Theo’s difficulty holding a job and reflect on their pasts as young drug addicts. Jane longs for the days when she was a fierce television producer for powerhouse broadcaster Blake Edwards, her former lover. Back then, she thinks, she was “bold and determined, oozing sex and ambition”; now, she thinks, she’s been “tamed beyond recognition.” A violent tragedy at a desert bar one night instantly transforms Jane’s life, causing memories of her earlier years with Theo to come rushing back. McGuiness provides readers with generous flashbacks that fill in details of their life together and sketch out Jane’s reckless, adventurous work in the entertainment industry. The past comes roaring into Jane’s present when she’s contacted by Blake’s production crew in Manhattan. As she rediscovers her enduring love for big city life and comes to terms with her sexuality, she also faces conflicts that test the strength of her sobriety. McGuiness’ novel is set amid one of the most contentious election seasons in modern history; against this backdrop, it presents a compelling statement on the need for stricter gun control laws and better political accountability, and provides a testament to the horrific damage that gun violence exacts on society. McGuiness’ novel shows off her skills as a terrific storyteller; the work sends her resilient protagonist through the highs and lows of life as a single mom who joins a complicated fight to safeguard the public and finds new purpose.

An engrossing, epiphanic story of second chances, anchored by a relevant message.

Kirkus Reviews