This post was most recently updated on April 14th, 2022
Listen To Me: How My Down Syndrome Brother Saved My Life by Lynne Podrat
Publisher: LP Press (August 19, 2021)
Category: Non Fiction, Memoir, Special Needs, Disabilities, Down Syndrome, Siblings
Tour dates: March 14-April 14, 2022
ISBN: 978-1737666806
Available in Print and ebook, 128 pages
Description Listen To Me by Lynne Podrat
This memoir was written to honor my youngest brother’s influence over my life, the good, the bad, and the ugly of living with a Down Syndrome sibling. It tells the story of the children in my family, despite our parents’ frailties, remaining committed to each other through life’s many changes and separations. Who I am today is directly related to the who I needed to become.
Praise Listen To Me by Lynne Podrat
“As the intertwined life stories of the author and her brother Bruce emerge, the story takes on a new tone. Bitterness and rancor are replaced with a gentle kind of mellowness and a roaring-fire-on-a-cold-winter-day kind of warmth. This is underscored when the author writes that her plans for Bruce were “to open and enrich his world.” In the end, however, she realizes how being with Bruce “accomplished so much more.” She realizes how this “sweet small man” and “Bruce’s” capacity to love and to “just go on because there was no other choice” profoundly influenced her life. And how Bruce opened and enriched her world.
Oh, and the title? You’ll have to read the book for yourself to figure that one out.
Flavored with gentle humor and tongue-in-cheek wit, Listen to Me isn’t a long read. At about 30,000 words, you can finish it in an afternoon. But the reflections and insights will reverberate much longer.”- Kristine, Pages and Paws
“This book is a touching story about the unconditional love between an older sister and her brother, Bruce. The prose is uplifting and inspirational, without the traces of ableism that can be found in other such works. The overall message is a plea to see people for who they are, not their diagnosis and aims to increase disability awareness.”- Laura Quinn, Laura Quinn Writes
“This memoir is exactly what I needed. It made me laugh and cry and helped me appreciate the people in my life even more than I already did. Bruce’s love for his family, friends, and favorite rock ‘n’ roll idols lives on through this book. His larger-than-life personality left such an impression on me; I can honestly say that I feel like I know him without ever having met him. I think about him from time to time and his essence inspires hope in me, showing me how precious it is to have an innocent view of life at any age.
This book means so much to me. Lynne Podrat is a true artist with her words and the life she created around the people she loves. Her tenacity and devotion to her family—and herself—is unparalleled. She is a badass. If I could just accomplish half of what she has, I would be happy.”-Sandi, Proof Reader Sandi
About Lynne Podrat
Lynne Podrat graduated from the Pennsylvania State University and then spent fifteen years in the Fashion Industry as an Assistant Buyer and Department Manager with Bloomingdales Department Store before returning to school to receive her educational degrees from Arcadia University and Gynedd Mercy.
A retired educator and Administrator from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania School District, she taught English, literature, composition and history in elementary and secondary schools.
She has secretly been a writer and poet her whole life, but has only recently chosen to share those talents with the world. Lynne now lives with her husband in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, spending winters dragon boating where her heart races and summers hiking the Rockies in Vail, Colorado where her heart sings.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynne.podrat
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lynnepodratwrites/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lynne_podrat
Buy Listen To Me by Lynne Podrat
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Giveaway Listen To Me by Lynne Podrat
This giveaway is for 3 print copies, one for each of 3 winners and is open to the U.S. only. This giveaway ends on April 15, 2022 midnight, pacific time. Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only.
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