With and Without Her: A Memoir of Loss

by Beth Simon Rosenschein

When Beth Simon was seventeen her mother suffered a debilitating stroke. Anna Simon had been an active, able, loving mother and homemaker. She lived the last six years of her life without the ability to speak or move the right side of her body. Even before Anna's death, Beth and her siblings lost the woman who was the center of their lives. With and Without Her tells the story of a family's struggle through loss, illness and shattered expectations towards endurance and healing.

345 pages, Paperback

Published August 25, 2021

Reviews

[Margalit Jakob · Rating 5 out of 5]

“With and Without Her” tells a poignant story of the unthinkable loss of the author’s loving mother to a stroke. We step right into Rosenschein’s merry, confident and privileged childhood of which she stands proudly as the eldest sibling, when in a flash, this is shockingly taken from her. Rosenschein reconstructs every stark moment as she is forced to come to terms with the meaning of this sudden hole in her life where her loving mother had once been.

Anyone who has experienced the gift of a loving mother in her/his life will be able to resonate with the author’s loss.