Dancing Between The Raindrops: A Daughter's Reflections On Love And Loss
Nonfiction | Memoir | Family | African American
By Lisa Braxton
Perfect-bound paperback | 6 x 9 | 158 pages | May 24, 2024 | 978-1961864085
A powerful meditation on grief, a deeply personal mosaic of a daughter's remembrances of beautiful, challenging, and heartbreaking moments of life with her family. It speaks to anyone who has lost a loved one and is trying to navigate the world without them while coming to terms with complicated emotions. Lisa Braxton's parents died within two years of each other-her mother from ovarian cancer, her father from prostate cancer. While caring for her mother she was stunned to find out that she, herself, had a life-threatening illness-breast cancer. In this intimate, lyrical memoir-in-essays, Lisa Braxton takes us to the core of her loss and extends a lifeline of comfort to anyone who needs to be reminded that in their grief they are not alone.
About The Author
Lisa Braxton is the author of the novel, The Talking Drum, winner of a 2021 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Book Awards Gold Medal, overall winner of Shelf Unbound book review magazine’s 2020 Independently Published Book Award, winner of a 2020 Outstanding Literary Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, and a Finalist for the International Book Awards. She is an Emmy-nominated former television journalist, an essayist, and short story writer. She is on the executive board of the Writers Room of Boston, a writing instructor at Grub Street Boston, and the president of the Greater Boston Section of the National Council of Negro Women. Lisa is a member of the Psi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts in mass media from Hampton University, her Master of Science in journalism from Northwestern University and her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University.
Reviews
"Lisa writes in a beautiful tone, expressing undeniable gratitude and love towards her family members on each page of the book. Her honesty and raw emotions are what set her work apart from similar memoirs. Reading this piece felt like a lifelong friend sitting down for a coffee and telling me about all the stuff I've missed out on from the last time we saw each other. It deals with a lot of sensitive topics, including taking care of an elderly parent when they most need you, grief from losing a loved one, and being discriminated against on a racial level, to name a few.
Each chapter being a story of its own makes the book and its message even more powerful and real. One of the stories that touched me the most early on in the book was one of Lisa's first times dealing with racism in school. Someone had told the African-American kids to go back to where they came from, and just reading about the way Lisa felt at that moment was heartbreaking. She explains that she felt confused because yes she is of African ancestry, but how can she go back to a place she had never been to, furthermore her parents and grandparents were all born and lived in the U.S. The confusion in that little girl's mind is something that will stick with me as a reader for a long time.
I highly recommend Lisa Braxton's Dancing Between The Raindrops: A Daughter's Reflections On Love And Loss to anyone looking for a poignant and touching memoir. The book is a heartwarming tribute to the universal experience of love and loss."
—Karen Almeida
Assistant Editor
Literary Titan"Dancing Between the Raindrops is a heartfelt homage to Braxton's parents in the wake of their passing. She touches the soul of every adult child's mourning in ways poignant, nostalgic, aching, and funny with a clever patchwork of writing styles. A must read!"
—E. Dolores Johnson, author of Say I'm Dead, A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets and Love
