author of the memoirs The Thief of Happiness: The Story of an Extraordinary Psychotherapy and Surrendering Oz.
Her essays have been selected for inclusion in The Best Writing on Writing, The Best American Movie Writing, The Best Buddhist Writing, and The Best Spiritual Writing. Her new novel is Don’t Stop.
At Lit Hub Friedman tagged eight "books that reveal covert lives, truths that society forbids or shames, and an effusion of vibrant spirit." One title on the list:
The Words of Dr. L., and Other Stories, Karen E. BenderRead about another entry on the list.
Suspenseful speculative fiction about isolated women hiding something dangerous. Pregnancy and a quest for the illegalmeans to end it in a surveillance society features in one story; people becoming physically (and to them shamefully) invisible due to their being treated with an oblivious daily cruelty that has become endemic centers another. Further stories illuminate emotional realities burrowed deep within enormously likeable characters, often moving the reader (or this reader anyway) to astonished tears. To read it is to sit at the feet of a master of the short story form. Speculative fiction has never been my thing. This book changed that.
--Marshal Zeringue
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