January 2021, ten months into the global pandemic, Sherry Sidoti’s mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, so Sherry prioritizes a trip to Manhattan over long-awaited empty-nesting and her “second chance” with fiancé Jevon. With new life blooming and loss looming, she is beckoned to answer the question that has haunted her since childhood: is freedom found in “letting go,” as the spiritual teachers (and her mother) insist or is it found by digging our heels deeper into the earth and holding on to our humanness?
A Smoke and a Song is Sherry’s story of her quest to make meaning from the memories homed in her body. Told with tenacity, tenderness, and wry New York City humor, Sherry stumbles towards self-actualization, spiritual awakening and, despite it all, love. This is a story steeped in art and spirituality that explores the complexities of womanhood, transgenerational maternal bonds, attachment, loss, and leaning-in to our wounds to find the wisdom.
A Smoke And A Song
A MEMOIR
ABOUT THE BOOK
“Inspiring and reflective, A Smoke and A Song should be required reading for anyone looking within and beyond. Sherry Sidoti weaves us through a journey of self-discovery, heartbreak, and self-actualization. She brings to life each part of ourselves—the parts we know and the parts we have a harder time listening to—all in the name of self-love.”
Chelsea Handler - #1 New York Times best-selling author, comedian, and Dear Chelsea podcast host
“Yearning and desire ooze from between the lines in this complicated family memoir exquisitely written by a New York City girl. Sherry Sidoti’s words pull us through her life stages with love, humor, and raw honesty as she seeks self-compassion. When you finish, you'll want to start all over again. A Smoke and a Song is that good.”
Kathy Elkind, author of To Walk It Is To See It
“A seeker’s story of healing intergenerational trauma. In her unwavering commitment to heal, with body informed awareness, the author alchemizes inherited history to rewrite her own narrative breath by breath, beat by beat. Every broken family system has a healer. Sherry Sidoti is one.”
Shalom Harlow - model, actress, yogini
“A Smoke and a Song is a winning book! Sherry Sidoti’s prose is absolutely gorgeous—lyrical and tender, moody and insightful, mystical and relatable. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. A memoir told with such nuanced self-awareness; you’ll find yourself needing to put the book down at moments just to pause, take in her reflections, and make meaning of your own story through hers.”
Nancy Slonim Aronie - author of Writing from the Heart and Memoir as Medicine
“I discovered the poet Stanley Kunitz while I was a college student at NYU and his words saved my life; still do. All these years later, his granddaughter’s words are saving my life and if that isn’t magic, I dare you to tell me what is. By sharing her story, Sherry Sidoti invites us to remember what it is to love deeply and then to go out into the world with that knowing so that we can live big beautiful and messy lives.”
Jennifer Pastiloff - bestselling author of On Being Human
"Sherry Sidoti beautifully weaves together a deeply moving memoir that captures the many complexities of love and our relationship with the ones we care about the most. I came away moved and inspired by her willingness to be so transparent and authentic.”
Paul Samuel Dolman - host of the popular podcast What Matters Most and author of Hitchhiking with Larry David
“Earthy and magical, A Smoke and a Song is a woman’s anthem. With the heart of a mother and the soul of a warrior, Sherry Sidoti takes us on her unwavering quest towards self-agency—from maidenhood, through motherhood, into the wisdom years of cronehood— braiding music, poetry, art, culture, and mysticism with grounded spirituality and a wry New York City ‘edge. This story is steeped in healing tools from the author's decades of study and teaching, without being pushy or prescriptive. Sidoti trusts her readers to mine the raw ore from her story and polish it into gold for their own.”
Anita Kopacz - bestselling author of Shallow Waters: A Novel
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