[I'm the One Who Got Away 01] • I'm the One Who Got Away

2018 Foreword Indies Finalist in Adult Nonfiction―Family insinuating father/stranger; friends and encounters, lovers and spouse, templates of what she must move beyond, accept, or embrace to become bravely herself―is as riveting as a mystery and as filling as a feast.”

―William O'Sullivan, Washingtonian magazine

“Beautifully told with great wisdom and clear-eyed courage, Andrea Jarrell has mapped her personal journey in life―the fears and obstacles and losses as well as the joys and comforts of love and finding her own sense of home. I could not put it down.”

―Jill McCorkle, Life After Life and Going Away Shoes

When Andrea Jarrell was a girl, her mother often told her of their escape from Jarrell's dangerous, cunning father as if it was a bedtime story. In this real-life Gilmore Girls story, mother and daughter develop an unusual bond, complicated by a cautionary tale of sexual desire and betrayal. Once grown, Jarrell thinks she's put that chapter of her life behind her--until a woman she knows is murdered, and she suddenly sees how her mother's captivating story has also held her captive, influencing her choices in lovers and friends. Set in motion by this murder, Jarrell's compact memoir is about the difficulty that daughters have separating from--while still honoring--their mothers, and about the perils of breaking the hereditary cycle of addiction. It's also about Jarrell's quest to make a successful marriage and family of her own--a journey first chronicled in her "Modern Love" essay for *The New York Times*. Without preaching or prescribing, *I'm the One Who Got Away* is a life-affirming story of having the courage to become both safe enough and vulnerable enough to love and be loved.