Unstitched

The opioid crisis darts jagged all around us, if we but open our eyes to it. Unstitched deftly lays out the groundwork for the crisis but also probes deeply into the personal, bringing the reader face to face with stories of tragedy and loss, courage and great strength as well as just plain luck, good and bad. Brett Ann Stanciu is brutally honest about the jaws of addiction, candid and clear-eyed on a subject often avoided by so many. In our small state the notion of community holds us together at all levels, as, in fact, community flourishes most places. Within lies perhaps the greatest hope to meet this dire need. For many of us, Unstitched serves not only as a much-needed introduction but a vital resource to be returned to, over and again. -- Jeffrey Lent, author of In the Fall and Before We Sleep Powerful! An exploration through education of substance misuse disorder and its impact on small town idyllic Vermont. The personal redemption and recovery story of the writer is beautifully interwoven with insights into stigma, opioid misuse and finally recovery through purpose, community and connection. Beautifully crafted and a must read for anyone affected by substance misuse disorder. -- Fawn D. Montanye, Executive Director Vermont Recovery Network Unstitched is riveting, compassionate, topical, and one of the best books I've read this year. Stanciu, in beautiful prose, takes on the impact of the opioid epidemic on a small Vermont town with the gusto and suspense of a fine mystery novel, and the empathy that only a truly fine observer of the human condition could muster. Highly recommended. -- Thomas Christopher Greene, author of The Perfect Liar The shift in scale throughout Unstitched -- from a tiny Vermont library, from one person's annoyance with one addict's break-ins, to the global scope of the opioid epidemic -- is gut-wrenching. In a memoir that is generous and capacious at the same time that it is intimate, difficult, and finely wrought, readers will be carried by this deftly woven investigation into addiction in a small town. I didn't want to read this book, given my own family's loss, and then I couldn't put it down. Unstitched is the book about addiction that everyone needs to read -- if we are ever to understand what needs to be done. -- Kerrin McCadden, author of Keep This To Yourself Unstitched should be mandatory reading. It is a heartbreaking, raw, tender and revelatory look at addiction and its pervasive grip on ourselves, our families, our communities, and our rural towns. This book undid me as I read -- taking me into the heart of suffering, revealing my own habits, biases and fears -- and then it gathered those pieces together and braided them into something new: a vision of hope, connection, possibility and healing for us all. -- Robin MacArthur, author of Heart Spring Mountain and Half Wild While Unstitched begins as a true crime memoir set in an idyllic small Vermont town, soon it explodes into an exploration about 'the ugliness of poverty, the ravages of drug addiction' as Stanciu studies our nation's and her own addiction crises. Stanciu shines a light on the things we don't want to see: drug and alcohol abuse spread throughout our hometowns, including her own. Stanciu's beautiful light, and stunning writing, transforms those who are considered 'once a junkie, always a junkie, ' into our friends and neighbors -- where 'recovery is possible' and 'we are alike.' -- Sean Prentiss, author of Finding Abbey and Crosscut: Poems With this thoughtful and thought-provoking book, Brett Stanciu shines a light on the twin tragedies of addiction and suicide that have infiltrated every family in America, even more so during the pandemic . . . Addiction, and all the dark aspects associated with it, is a subject I'd like to ignore. But ignoring it isn't going to help or make it go away, and Brett's book has led me to re-examine what I could do to be part of the solution. This book may provide a lifeline to someone in need, and might begin a conversation that saves a life. -- Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, author of As Long As There Are Mountains and The Canada Geese Quilt Beautifully crafted and researched, this book is for everyone, whether you've known the secret pain of addiction in your family or seen it ravaging your community. A luminous act of compassion and courage. -- Diana Whitney, author of You Don't Have to Be Everything With compassion, curiosity, and a fine eye for detail, Brett Ann Stanciu takes us on an unforgettable journey into the world of addiction and recovery in rural Vermont. The result is a beautiful and affecting story about the resilience of spirit and of community, at precisely the time we most need an abundance of both. -- Ben Hewitt, author of The Town That Food Saved and Homegrown I took a sobering read through this book because it focuses a lot on community, conversation, Vermont and the effects/impacts of substance abuse on all lives involved. -- Jason Broughton, Vermont State Librarian & Commissioner