ELAINE SOLOWAY reads from her book GREEN NAILS AND OTHER ACTS OF REBELLION

Green Nails and Other Acts of Rebellion: Life After Loss (She Writes Press)

Early in 2009, after more than a decade of marriage, Elaine Soloway's husband, Tommy, began to change exhibiting inappropriate behaviors at times, becoming inexplicably weepy at others. More troublesome, he began to have difficulty finding words. Ultimately, Tommy's doctors discovered that he had frontotemporal degeneration a diagnosis that explained Tommy's baffling symptoms and transformed Soloway from irritated wife to unflappable, devoted caregiver in one fell swoop.

In Green Nails and Other Acts of Rebellion Soloway documents Tommy's deteriorating health and eventual death, shedding light on the day-to-day realities of those who assume the caregiver role in a relationship with uncompromising honesty and wry humor. Charming, frank, and ultimately uplifting, Soloway's story reveals how rich with love and appreciation a life compromised by an incurable illness can be and how even widowhood can open a door to a new, invigorated life.

Praise for Green Nails and Other Acts of Rebellion

"Soloway's story delves deeper than the role of caregiver to her husband. It's not so much about Tommy as it is about coping with Tommy's illness and learning to live with it. It's about accepting life's challenges and moving forward, even when forward sometimes feels backward. It's a story that manages to stay surprisingly lighthearted, as Soloway injects bittersweet memories and bits of humor into her writing. There is no woe-is-me moment in this book. There is no asking of sympathy. I always respect that in a writer." -Sophie L. Nagelberg, Literary Chicago

"What a sweet, poignant collection of memories, revisited with honesty and wit. Elaine Soloway may be a rookie widow but she is a master reporter, with high honors in tender loving care." --Elinor Lipman, author of The Inn At Lake Devine, Then She Found Me, I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays

"Soloway wins the day with her upbeat closing essays, showing us that there is 'Life After Loss' as she soldiers on in her seventies, to more joy and happiness, embracing a life filled with love and laughter from friends and family." -Sandy Pesman, WidowsList.com

Elaine Soloway is the author of the memoir The Division Street Princess, the novel She's Not The Type, and a contributor to the anthology Ask Me About My Divorce. A public relations consultant for thirty years, she also writes the blogs The Rookie Widow, The Rookie Caregiver, and Too Old To Talk Tech. Along with developing her own essays, she is a writing coach and a tech tutor. Soloway is a lifelong Chicagoan and currently lives in the city's River North neighborhood.