The Geography of You and Me: A Memoir

"Amy Bickers weaves a stunning tale of love and loss in the Deep South. She'll break your heart. Read. This. Book." - Sara Benincasa, author of Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom and DC Trip Magazine editor and single mother Amy Bickers was finally putting her life together after a long divorce when, on an August night in 2009, she witnessed the suicide of her ex-husband. In 2009, 36,909 suicides were reported in the United States. In the years since, that number has increased. In 2013, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were 41,149 suicides reported in the U.S. Around the world, more than 800,000 people will die by suicide this year. It is said that each suicide intimately affects six friends and family members. A suicide every 13.7 minutes in the U.S. is tragically multiplied by six: six people who are called “survivors." The Geography of You and Me is a deeply personal and honest exploration of what came next: grief, post-traumatic stress, and healing. It is a journey filled with dark humor, rap songs by Ludacris, therapeutic cursing, and a perfectly healthy fixation on George Clooney. The Geography of You and Me is ultimately a story of forgiveness and hope. Amy forgave her ex-husband almost immediately. The struggle after his death was to forgive herself and to find a way forward in an uncertain landscape.