“Julie Fingersh’s Stay is so rich, wise, funny, and beautifully written. It’s hard to put down once you start."
—Anne Lamott, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Named one of Zibby Owens's most anticipated books of Fall 2024

"Fingersh's story should help readers dealing with family secrets and mental and physical health issues feel less alone." -Booklist

For fans of Kelly Corrigan, Jenny Lawson, and Anna Quindlen, Stay: A Story of Family, Love, & Other Traumas is a riveting debut memoir that captures the light and shadows of family, the cost of our secrets, and the quest to help those we love without losing our own way.

“What happened to Danny”—which was how Julie Fingersh’s family often referred to her little brother’s life story—had always been sealed in sacred privacy, unfolding year after year under the noses of everyone around them. Their odyssey was easily concealed; things like this did not happen to families like theirs. Then, decades later, a different something happened. But this time Julie wasn’t a young sister trying to help her beloved brother. She was a mid-life parent on the verge of an empty nest, and this time it was her own child’s life suddenly careening off track.

Sparkling with warmth, insight, and lyrical prose, Stay explores the joyous and painful complexity of relationships, parenting, and mid-life.It also offers readers a rare, deeply affecting look behind the often-hidden veil of those navigating serious personal struggle, be it medical or mental. Above all, Stay provides sustenance for anyone on a search for how to love others fiercely while rising to the possibility of our own lives.