The Red Ribbon

A Memoir of Lightning and Rebuilding After Loss

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Pub Date 28 May 2019 | Archive Date 30 May 2019

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Description

In the summer of 1994, a freak lightning and thunder storm explodes on the southern coast of Maine, killing Nancy Bills’s husband and critically wounding her younger son. She promises her late husband that she will write their family’s story and bind it with a red ribbon of love and courage.

In language alternately tender and gritty, The Red Ribbon documents the aftermath of Bills’s husband’s death. As a wife, she grieves and attempts to rebuild her life; as a mother, she strains to be the parent her young adult sons need. Then, one year later, she is faced with more loss—this time, the father whom she adores. After his death, other deaths, some anticipated and others unpredictable, follow. Meanwhile, the impending death of her aging mother is a particular challenge; Nancy struggles to be a good daughter, and on many visits to Montana, her home state, she tries to mend their painful history.

Insightful, moving, and full of intelligence and humanity, The Red Ribbon is a story of surviving the many and often devastating lightning strikes of life, and a gift of compassion and wisdom for readers who are struggling with their own losses.

In the summer of 1994, a freak lightning and thunder storm explodes on the southern coast of Maine, killing Nancy Bills’s husband and critically wounding her younger son. She promises her late...


A Note From the Publisher

Award-winning writer NANCY FREUND BILLS is currently on the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine, OLLI/USM, where she facilitates the fiction writing workshop. She is also a retired clinical social worker; during her twenty-year-long career, she served both as a psychiatric social worker at Concord Regional Hospital in New Hampshire and Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine, and as a psychotherapist at Green House Group, a group private practice in Manchester, New Hampshire. “The Myth,” Chapter 19 of The Red Ribbon, received first place in the memoir/personal essay category of the 83rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. Her memoir, fiction, and poetry have been published in Reflections, The Maine Review, The LLI Review, The Goose River Anthology, and in The 83rd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition Collection. A member of the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance (MWPA), she lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, with her two Maine Coon cats.

Award-winning writer NANCY FREUND BILLS is currently on the faculty of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Southern Maine, OLLI/USM, where she facilitates the fiction writing...


Advance Praise

“Memoirs of loss and survival are rather common, but what sets this one apart is Bills’ extraordinary perceptiveness and writing talent. . . . A keeper of a book by a talented author.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“I highly recommend this book—it is both heartbreaking and uplifting. It is a gift to all those who grieve, will grieve, or who will offer support to someone through bereavement ~ a real tour de force!” ―Christine Linnehan, M.S., LCPC, FT, Psychotherapist, Riverview Counseling (specializing in grief and bereavement), Consultant, Center for Grieving Children

“Achingly beautiful.” ―Barbara Hesselman Kautz, MSN, RN, author of When I Die I’m Going to Heaven ‘Cause I Spent My Time in Hell: A Memoir of My Year as an Army Nurse in Vietnam

“…a brave memoir about a family’s heartbreaking journey of grief and healing.” ―Shelagh Ramage Forland, LCSW

“…a beautifully written memoir, tells a tender and tragic story of courage.” ―Ruth Townsend Story, author of five books about teaching English

“…a compelling account of unexpected loss. As a recent widow, I found her memoir comforting and helpful. For readers who have suffered loss, Nancy’s memoir is an important read. ―Susan Dahlgren Daigneault, Ed.D., author of In the Shadow of a Mountain, A Soldier’s Struggle with PTSD “…a heartfelt story of love and loss, rendered in clear and beautiful prose. Its music will resonate in your heart long after you’re finished reading.” ―Richard Cass, 2018 Maine Literary Award Winner

“…Her memoir is an amazing accomplishment offering help and hope to others suffering losses...” ―Walden S. Morton, editor of KALEIDOSCOPE and a finalist for the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance 2017 Maine Literary Award for Anthology

“Memoirs of loss and survival are rather common, but what sets this one apart is Bills’ extraordinary perceptiveness and writing talent. . . . A keeper of a book by a talented author.” —Kirkus...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781631525735
PRICE $16.95 (USD)
PAGES 216

Average rating from 2 members


Featured Reviews

I enjoyed reading this memoir. In 1994 a her husband and son were hit by lighting during a sudden thunderstorm. The essays were written at different times so the book is not one continuing story and there are time changes. The essays follow the author from the initial shock of the accident, through the stages of grief to acceptance. The essays are beautifully written.

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