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Fans of Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died will root for Bridey Thelen-Heidel as she struggles to unshackle herself from her mother’s chaos in this triumphant debut memoir.Third Place Books welcomes Bridey Thelen-Heidel to our Ravenna store for a discussion of her debut memoir, Bright Eyes: Surviving Our Monsters and Learning to Live Without Them, about the indomitable spirit of a young girl forced to be brave, required to be resilient, and conditioned to be optimistic, and how she ultimately uses the same traits that helped her to survive her mother’s chaos to create her own happily-ever-after. She will be joined in conversation by Morgan Richter. This event is free and open to the public.
For important updates, registration is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!
About Bright Eyes. . .
Bridey is tethered to her mom’s addiction to dangerous men who park their Harley-Davidsons in the house and kick holes in all their doors. Raised to be her mother’s keeper, rescuer, and punching bag, Bridey gets used to stuffing her life into black trash bags, hauling them between Alaska and California, and changing schools every time her mom moves in a new monster—or runs away from one. Desperately seeking the normal life she’s observed in sitcoms and her friends’ families, Bridey earns her way into a fancy, private college, where she tries to forget who she is—until her mom calls with a threat that drops Bridey to her knees. Watching doctors and police interrogate her mother at the hospital, Bridey realizes her mom has become a monster herself . . . and she doesn’t want to be saved. But Bridey does.
Praise for Bright Eyes. . .
"A deftly rendered portrait of a tragically toxic mother-daughter relationship."
—Kirkus Reviews
"In gritty prose laying bare on the page a hardscrabble home life marked by trauma and abuse, Bridey Thelen-Heidel has a cinematic eye and a poet's voice. This is not just a book of how Thelen-Heidel survives, but how she ultimately thrives in the life she creates from the rubble. Readers of Mary Karr and Cheryl Strayed will recognize an important new voice in American memoir. BRIGHT EYES: A Memoir plays the music of despair, but also of shining, satisfying redemption. Heidel is its fearless singer."
—Alice Anderson, author of Some Bright Morning, I'll Fly Away
"Bright Eyes: A Memoir hooks you from the start with its vivid and often heartrending scenes. Bridey Thelen-Heidel writes with such clear prose, the reader is immediately drawn into a world that’s often heartbreaking, but full of a child’s hope until the author claims her own identity, neither dependent on or defined by the broken and dangerous adults who once surrounded her. Bridey’s triumphant story is a strong illustration that sometimes, the best revenge is to flourish."
—Bobi Conn, author In the Shadow of the Valley and Some Place Like Home
Bridey Thelen-Heidel’s chaotic upbringing meant changing schools between Alaska and California more than twenty times. A Lewis and Clark College graduate, she lives in South Lake Tahoe with her husband and daughter where she teaches English Literature. She's delivered a TEDx, performed in Listen to Your Mother NYC, and been voted "Best of Tahoe Teacher" by her community several times. Her advocacy work with LGBTQ+ students has been celebrated by the California Teachers' Association.
Morgan Richter is a graduate of the Filmic Writing program at the University of Southern California’s film school and has worked in production on several television shows, including ABC’s America’s Funniest Home Videos and E! Entertainment Television’s Emmy-winning comedy series Talk Soup. An avid popular culture critic, she is the author of Duranalysis: Essays on the Duran Duran Experience and has amassed a cult following on her analyses of classic Duran Duran videos. While she has self-published five novels, her traditional publishing debut is The Divide, a neo-noir thriller from Knopf. Her thriller The Understudy will be released by Knopf in 2025. Richter currently lives in Seattle.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
6504 20th Ave NE, Seattle, WA, United States, Washington 98115
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