Cold: Essays on Love, Faith, Family and Other Dangerous Pursuits

by Victoria Dougherty, Jenny Zemanek (Illustrations)

Victoria Dougherty comes from the ultimate Cold War family – daring escapes, backyard firing squads, communist snitches, bowlfuls of goulash, gargoyles, gray skies and bone-chilling winters.In Cold, Dougherty writes essays with humor and raw soul. About the heart-rending stories she grew up hearing at her dinner table and the two-hanky drama that played on in her home. She ponders how her family’s bad luck - so bad her parents dubbed it a curse - against all reason became a force for good in her life.More on Cold…WordPress, the blogging platform that hosts some 70 million blogs worldwide, has singled out Ms. Dougherty’s blog, also called Cold, as one of their top Recommended Blogs by writers or about writing.

Genres: Biography

256 pages, Paperback

Published July 6, 2016

About the author

Victoria Dougherty crafts stories that blur the lines between what was, what is, and what might be. Her Cold War thrillers—THE BONE CHURCH, THE HUNGARIAN, and WELCOME TO THE HOTEL YALTA—captivated readers with their breathtaking plots and genre-defying magic. Her epic historical fantasy series, including BREATH, OF SAND AND BONE, and SAVAGE ISLAND, proves she’s equally at home with spies and sorcery. Now, with her latest novel NIGHT OF THE MOON WITCH, she weaves Appalachian folklore into a haunting tale of memory, magic, and reclaiming one’s true power.

Her work has graced the pages of the New York Times, USA Today, and The International Herald Tribune, while her blog COLD earned recognition from WordPress as one of the Top 50 Recommended Blogs by writers.

An immigrant kid from the Chicago suburbs who grew up believing stories could reshape the world, Victoria writes for those who understand that the most powerful magic happens when yesterday’s secrets meet tomorrow’s possibilities. Her tales are invitations to wander through worlds where history whispers its hidden truths and every character carries the weight of their own mysterious journey.

When she’s not conjuring worlds that keep readers awake until dawn, she’s exploring the cultural threads that connect us all—one story at a time.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no joy finishing this collection of Blogs. There is the emptiness of bidding a lover goodbye on a railway station the poverty of counting 11 shinny pennies when the lolly costs a full shilling.
I feel I’ve lost a friend; this constant companion of mine for the past few weeks as I've dipped into this book has gone and left me to look upon life for myself.
That is not to say these blogs are contemporary thoughts for the day; ‘follow this way and blessings will come.” On the contrary the writing of Victoria Dougherty has nothing about self, in terms of ego, rather it is self-abasing and humble in opening her life to the reader. This is a unique quality few manage, even diarists because there are no characters to hid behind, place difficult words on the lips of a fictitious lead. No here is an outpouring of honest comment of a writer who is at peace with her place in her home, faith, family and heritage. Who does not mince her words but recounts truth as it is the only currency of love and real life.
Although she clearly adores her husband Jack you cannot help but fall in love with this wonderful lady, full of vitality, wit and compassion. Her blogs are not homilies, she isn’t rushing to reach a number of words to fill the assignment, she is writing from her heart, sharing her life, bearing her soul and resonating with all that is good and true. Hey, people can try to critique he work but few can come close to her open honesty and criticise her life affirming opinions.
It is like falling into conversation with a wonderful traveller who in sharing your journey expands on all things that are worthy and true. Would that we could tarry longer or never reach our destination until all is understood. The writer shares her life without excuses; her mistakes and just poor luck, some bitterness and joy but a certainty that each day has more, as we live with freedom and love. .
Cold is a book that will warm the soul, challenge your complexity of roles and be a resource to return to as required. It is more than a diary, more than an auto-biography it is a conversation. By being so open in her writing, Vic or Vik shows us that the past doesn’t forge the future; the present is devoid of hope or humour however black the sky and that relationships are all that matter provided they are fuelled by respect for one another and a bond of love.
Thank you Vic for this collection in print and sharing these thoughts, I loved it all. Your trip with your son stands out on how you have grown as a woman and your intuitive nature on how to raise your kids and enjoy their company. I also adored your thoughts in ….this is silly, the review will become longer than the actual book.
Thank you for opening your heart without reservation or for gain.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring, touching, wicked, funny, accessible, erudite, heartbreaking. I am going to buy a passel of these books and give them to my BFFs. And they will love reading them.

[CARLA · Rating 4 out of 5]

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This was an interesting book. It’s waaaay out of my comfort zone. Originally I had started it to go with a reading challenge I was doing at the time. But I gave up on that challenge and just decided to finish it anyway.

It was kinda dark in that there was a lot of references to death. tragedy and war. But I found some of the stories very heartwarming to the point of crying as well. It was like, in order to enjoy the good times, you have to go through the bad times kinda thing. I get that and can relate to it but I didn’t agree with some of the authors perceptions.

She spoke candidly of her parents defection, losing and finding religion and her family’s ‘curse’. The travelling parts were the most interesting to me because I’m a bit of a wanderer myself. Or I aspire to be when I grow up. 😉 At any rate, I’m glad I read this collection of essays if only to say that I have read a collection of essays. It as educational.

[Alton Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only drawback to this book is that it ended. I loved everything about it, from the cover to the last page. It is just like life: at times wickedly funny, terribly sad, joyful, somber and bittersweet, but never dull. It holds true to the adage that all good things must come to an end.

[Larry L Wartsbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Victoria Dougherty is such a good writer and this book is so good it is difficult to capture all the positive feelings and benefits from reading it. It is funny, serious, inspiring, earthy, wise, real-life and touches on all topics from the perspective of an American whose parents and ancestors suffered and some escaped the life of Communist occupied Czechoslovakia.

[Colette Reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a cold winter. Reading Cold wrapped my soul in a warm blanket.

[John Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, I have consumed Ms Dougherty's two novels ('The Bone Church' and 'The Hungarian') and book of short stories ('Welcome to the Hotel Yalta'), and wait for her next piece of fiction with the same impatience as that of a six-year-old counting down the hours to the arrival of Santa Claus. That's where I'm at, so as you can imagine, this review is not going to be a pale, insipid 'quite good' or 'I was mildly disappointed' one.
Dougherty writes with passion and intelligence, interposed with a sly vein of gallows humour. In that respect, 'Cold' - a collection of essays on life, love, challenges and cigarettes - is a good introduction to her work. Passionate but unsentimental about her fellow man, she realizes that 'good' and 'bad' are relative, not absolute, terms. The weight (and sometimes lightness) of her Slavic origins infuses the pages of this often quirky but always entertaining chocolate box of stories.

[J.M. Infusino · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a small view as to what it was like in a country that I could not imagine going thru what your parents went thru. I would have been graduating from high school when your mother was pregnant with you. If you want a look into what life was like under someone like Putin this would be a great book to read. This a is something that should be required reading in high school history.

Thank you for writing this book and I look forward to reading every book that you write. My income is small & it will take me a while to save up to get them. Only when I do get the money up I will get the hard copy to add to my collection of books.

[Jane Blanchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the beginning, I enjoyed Victoria Dougherty's honest recounting of her life with family refugees and personal memoirs. Some of the stories in her book Cold: Essays on Love, Faith, Family and Other Dangerous Pursuits made me laugh while others brought me to tears. Unfortunately, the stories started repeating and I struggled to finish the book. The structure reminded me more of a compilation of blog-like essays than a well-edited book.

[Lynn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of this was ARC was very good but then the author just babbled along about crap that was just garbage --- 250 pages of it was just totally boring and of no consequence. I did NOT enjoy at all – was supposed to get a free book but the internet claimed this page was not available!