Katie Rizzo’s debut memoir, The Trimesters of Grief, is a raw and intimate account of one family’s devastating struggle with opioid addiction and loss. Published by Koehler Books, with Blackstone Publishing handling audio licensing.
The Trimesters of Grief is a bereaved mother’s memoir and prescriptive guide that reframes the experience of losing a child to opioid addiction through the lens of gestation. Rizzo moves readers through invisible, undeniable, and public stages of grief toward the lifelong work of living with loss. Her book blends raw journal entries, original poetry, along with prescriptive tools. The book is pitched for readers of It’s OK that You’re Not OK and Beautiful Boy, with a foreword by Colin Campbell.
Using her journal entries, Rizzo explores what it means to battle a family member’s addiction, and then survive the unimaginable. Rizzo finds a way to live in this liminal space, with one foot here on earth and another with her son. Heartbreaking, honest, and ultimately illuminating.
Author Bio: Katie Rizzo is a fiction writer whose short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies. Trained in biology and psychology, Rizzo earned a master’s degree from Yale University and completed a MSII at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine. She taught at her local public high school for over fifteen years and lives in Arizona with her husband and their two dogs.
“Rizzo likens the phases of grief to the stages of pregnancy, progressing in trimesters from the time when the grief is conceived until it is ultimately born; though the grief leaves your body at this stage, the author observes that it is still nearby. This organizing metaphor, like the prose itself, is well crafted and very effective.” Kirkus Reviews
“The most unflinching account of loss I have ever encountered. It chronicles one mother’s transformation through the most profound change imaginable, the death of a child.” Mary Schaub Fractals of Change
“There are sections of this book that are wickedly funny. Part of the realness of
grief is grappling with the sheer absurdity that comes along with it. Rizzo expertly
captures the it’s-so-unbelievably-awful-it’s-actually-funny. I cried several times reading
this memoir, but I also laughed out loud.” – Colin Campbell from the foreword ,author of Finding the Words: Working Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose
“As both a grieving mother and a grief coach, I’ve long thought of Beautiful Boy as a touchstone for families living with addiction—but it is also a story of survival. Katie’s book is the one we’ve been missing for the ages.” Kristin Seeberger – grief coach @ LITT – support group for parents and siblings who have lost someone to addiction
Katie Rizzo: www.katierizzo.com, Kbehrendt007@gmail.com
Or Hannah Tonsor Koehler Books hannahtonsor@koehlerbooks.com
