A Certain Loneliness

I have loved Sandra Gail Lambert's stunning and flexible prose for a long time and still was unprepared for the power and searing honesty of her memoir, A Certain Loneliness. This book is an act of tremendous beauty. -Lauren Groff, author of New York Times bestseller Fates and Furies -- Lauren Groff Having pushed her wheelchair past two hundred alligators, Lambert has written a brilliant and necessary account of a wise and triumphant life as a writer, activist, kayaker, lesbian lover, birder, and survivor of polio. I'm in awe of her gifts. -Carolyn Forche, author of The Country between Us -- Carolyn Forche In these lyrical and elegiac essays, Sandra Lambert traces a profound relationship with nature-both the vanishing nature of the planet and the complex nature of her own philosophy. Her language is moving, intimate, and bracingly honest. -Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of Far from the Tree -- Andrew Solomon A Certain Loneliness is an intriguing memoir. . . . Lambert's lessons in how she lives, how difficult every motion is when her body grows less and less useful every year, are enlightening, perhaps even necessary, for able-bodied readers. . . . That Lambert's is a vanishing condition makes her perspective unusual, but the frustration and emotional turmoil she suffers are perfectly common. Such results could stand to be better understood by the friends and loved ones of people with these conditions-or by anyone who has ever hugged a woman in a wheelchair without permission. -Katharine Coldiron, River Teeth -- Katharine Coldiron * River Teeth * The author knows herself well and shares thoughts, feelings, and impressions with grace and acute self-awareness. Readers will come away with a cleareyed portrait of the author through the stories of her joys, sorrows, and intimate impressions. A powerful testimony to the determination and strength necessary to persevere despite assumptions, scrutiny, and societal stigmatization. -Kirkus * Kirkus *