"McFadden's reissued second novel takes an unflinching look at the corrosive nature of alcoholism . . . This is not a story of easy redemption . . . McFadden writes candidly about the treacherous hold of addiction." —Publishers Weekly "Riveting. . . . So nicely avoids the sentimentality that swirls around the subject matter. I am as impressed by its structural strength as by the searing and expertly imagined scenes." —Toni Morrison, author of...

"Braver Than You Think is the life-affirming story of how Downs, newly married and established in her career as a journalist, quits her job, sells her belongings, and embarks on the solo trip of a lifetime: Her mother's. Over the course of one year backpacking through seventeen countries - visiting all the places her mother, struck with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, cannot visit herself - Maggie faces some of the world's most exotic locales while...