Poor Your Soul

Guided by the narrative of her mother's tragic loss of a son years earlier, Mira Ptacin confronts an unexpected pregnancy with a child who has no chance of survival outside the womb. At age twenty-eight, Mira Ptacin discovered she was pregnant. Though it was unplanned, she soon embraced the pregnancy and became engaged to Andrew, the father. But five months later, an ultrasound revealed birth defects that would give the child no chance of survival outside the womb. Mira was given three...
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Guided by the narrative of her mother's tragic loss of a son years earlier, Mira Ptacin confronts an unexpected pregnancy with a child who has no chance of survival outside the womb. At age twenty-eight, Mira Ptacin discovered she was pregnant. Though it was unplanned, she soon embraced the pregnancy and became engaged to Andrew, the father. But five months later, an ultrasound revealed birth defects that would give the child no chance of survival outside the womb. Mira was given three options: terminate her pregnancy, induce early delivery, or wait and inevitably miscarry. Her story is woven together with the story of Mira's mother, who immigrated from Poland (also at the age of twenty-eight) and adopted a son, Julian. Julian would die tragically, bringing her a similar, unimaginable grief. Gorgeous, heartfelt first book by an award-winning essayist and Guernicacontributor. An earnest and direct discussion of women's reproductive rights from a personal angle, rather than a political one. Author has a robust social presence on Facebook and Twitter and has written for The Atlantic, New York Magazine, McSweeney's, Poets & Writers, The Rumpus, and more. Praise for Poor Your Soul "Beautiful, beautiful." --Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist "I defy anyone to read this and still believe pols have any right involving themselves in women's reproductive lives." --Martha Plimpton, Emmy and Tony-nominated actress and pro-choice activist "Vivacity of spirit, pungency and accuracy of observation, and a sharp, disabused, but nevertheless empathetic consciousness permeate her pages. Mira Ptacin soothes us, but she also, always, surprises." --Vijay Seshadri, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize in poetry Mira Ptacin is a creative nonfiction and children's book author and New York Times bestselling ghostwriter whose work has appeared in Guernica, NPR, New York Magazine, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, The National Book Foundation, The Morning News, The Rumpus, and more. She leads the creative nonfiction writing program at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine, and live on Peaks Island, Maine, with her husband, Andrew; son, Theo; and their two dogs, Huckleberry and Maybe Marketing and Publicity National media campaign focusing on review coverage as well as interviews with and profiles of the author. The book already has some big blurbs to help place it for readers and reviewers. $40,000 marketing budget. Pre-publication digital/print advertising across trade venues. Multi-stage consumer digital/print advertising. One national print consumer facing advertisement. Facebook and AdWords advertising. Consumer-facing pre-pub galley distro via Goodreads. IndieBound White Box mailing.