The Many Lives of Mama Love (Oprah's Book Club) (Unabridged)
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Once you start reading, be prepared, because you won’t want to stop.” —Oprah Winfrey
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.
No one expects the police to knock on the door of the million-dollar two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards.
Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She finds that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes, and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly learns the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder and acquires the nickname “Mama Love,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.
When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with the Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, and prove to herself that she is more good than bad, among other essential lessons.
The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
One woman refuses to let her greatest mistake define her. Author and literary agent Lara Love Hardin’s stunning memoir charts her struggles with addiction and the redemption found in sharing our stories. As a child, Hardin used books to escape from her tumultuous family life, but as she got older, she turned to more risky avenues like sex and addictive substances. Barely keeping it together as a suburban mom always on the prowl for a fix, Hardin was eventually arrested for over 30 counts of identity theft that fueled her drug habit. During her prison sentence, self-help books became a sort of salvation, earning her the nickname “Mama Love.” It’s a dark, funny, and inspirational story—and Hardin’s strength and pain come through in her unvarnished reading. The Many Lives of Mama Love proves that truth can be much stranger than fiction and that transformation is difficult but never impossible.
Customer Reviews
Loved it
Listened to this on audiobook in less than a few days and absolutely loved it!!
Worth reading!
Great book!
What a beautifully written piece!!
This book was such a great read! Lara does an incredible job taking us on a journey and pulling on each and every string of emotion. I was sad, happy, inspired, motivated, grateful and everything in between. I highly recommend for anyone looking for a classic read, REAL & authentic book, full of life lessons.