“The emergence of her new life as a gay woman is the titular ‘hurricane.’ . . . An engaging and sometimes-painful recollection of the trials of self-acceptance.”
“The emergence of her new life as a gay woman is the titular ‘hurricane.’ . . . An engaging and sometimes-painful recollection of the trials of self-acceptance.”
“Hurricane Lessons—much like a storm itself—is a stunning, heartbreaking, and ultimately redemptive memoir, alchemizing pain into light. This is a book of cell rearranging prose–a story many will f ind they’ve been waiting to read. The power of Willis’s voice will keep readers turning the page, as the music, the poetry, and the pulse of the narrative gains steam like a storm surge and lifts off the page. Willis is an important new voice in American memoir.”
“This beautifully written book starts with a total loss of self, but builds toward the emboldened reclamation of sexuality, desire, and raw courage that it takes to be a woman in America today. A knockout of a memoir; a tempest of a life.”
“. . . Hurricane Lessons will blow through you like a storm, or leave you nodding because you’ve already had your house blown down. A beautiful, honest, sometimes messy story of betrayal and reclamation, you’ll be rooting for Katrina Willis every step of the way.”
“There is no expiration on your truth, and Hurricane Lessons is a stunning, honest, and raw recounting of one woman’s brave fight to f inally honor who she truly is. If you’re thinking it’s too late, it isn’t. This beautiful story is proof.”
“Hurricane Lessons is a raw, searing memoir about a midlife awakening that masterfully describes the universal push and pull of duty and desire, guilt and longing, and responsibility to others and to ourselves. With lyrical prose and deep vulnerability, Katrina Willis has written a powerful story for all of us about the costs—and ultimately the joys—that come with choosing authenticity.”
“Katrina isn’t the hurricane in this story. The truth is. Sometimes the weather inside a life is so beautiful you don’t notice the pressure of it, slowly squeezing the breath from you. Hurricane Lessons is a cleareyed, compassionate memoir about coming out later in life and learning how to live inside a truth powerful enough to change everything.”
“With language as tender as it is unflinching, Hurricane Lessons traces the quiet ache of a life lived in shadow and the luminous, hard-won joy of stepping into the light. It is a profound reckoning with truth, time, and the courage it takes to rewrite one’s story after years of silence. This memoir reminds us that authenticity isn’t a single moment, but a lifelong unfolding. A necessary and deeply human work.”
“. . . Katrina’s arduous, painful climb out of who she was told to be, and into the woman she was born to be is triumphant and tearinducingly brave. No one’s life should be made this difficult by a choice to love. Katrina’s raw honesty in this incredible memoir was a reminder for me to keep fighting for the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQIA community like all our lives depend on it. Because they do.”
“We’ve come so far as a country and as a society that we often take for granted having queer rights and freedoms, yet that erases the very real barriers so many of us face when we come out or transition and are confronted with hostility, violence, and a lack of acceptance from our families. Hurricane Lessons is a potent reminder that our authenticity, no matter how valuable, must often be paid for with blood and tears.”
