“Touching and honest, Edelstein’s book offers keen analysis of the mother-daughter relationship while probing the perennial question of what makes humans choose life or death. A poignantly candid memoir about navigating the often rocky shores of family.” —Kirkus Reviews in September 1, 2017 Issue

Selected by 35 Over 35 as one of 2017's best debut

Interview with Anne Edelstein on Tablet’s Unorthodox

“Loss, grief, and ‘the proof of love’ are at stake in this poignant and penetrating memoir of a daughter’s quest to understand her elusive mother, the suicide of her beloved brother, and the mystery at the heart of the will to live.”
—Jill Bialosky, author of  History of a Suicide: My Sister’s Unfinished Life

"In this stunningly eloquent memoir, Edelstein grieves for her mother’s drowning to unearth an even deeper grief—the one for her brother who killed himself fifteen years before. In what can be the sometimes garrote of family (as well as its absolute joys) alongside a legacy of mental illness, Lifesaving for Beginners is a graceful GPS for finding your safe shore, no matter how distant it seems."
— Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling author of Pictures of You and Cruel Beautiful World

“While dramatic events set this memoir in motion, the triumph of Lifesaving for Beginners is that its heart lies not in the large ruptures of life but in the reconciliations that arrive quietly and routinely. I admire—and envy—the writing in this book. Its smooth surface belies its depths, much like the open waters Edelstein swims in as she seeks her own calmness and consolation."
— Kathleen Finneran, author of The Tender Land

“As if in the eye of a hurricane, Anne Edelstein writes courageously about the deaths that swirl about her.  Calm, clear, moving and oh-so poignant, Lifesaving for Beginners is a breathtaking portrait of our fruitless efforts to shield each other from the most painful aspects of life. Her book points in another direction and it is indeed a lifesaver.”
— Mark Epstein, author of The Trauma of Everyday Life and Going to Pieces without Falling Apart

"Anne Edelstein’s remarkable debut is an unforgettable—and unputdownable—portrait of a singular American family. Reminiscent of Vivian Gornick’s Fierce Attachments and Daphne Merkin’s This Close to Happy, this powerful memoir reads like a conversation with your kindest, funniest, most incisive friend."
— Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year and A Fortunate Age

“Anne Edelstein maps the tragic legacy of her brother's suicide and her mother's accidental death with grace and fortitude, shedding light on the darkest of secrets. In the quotidian domain of family life, she finds the simple poetry of love and forgiveness. Lifesaving for Beginners is a soaring tribute to the ties that bind us, what makes us whole as human beings."
— Anne Landsman, author of The Devil’s Chimney and The Rowing Lesson