Two Years, Six Lives, and The Long Journey Home
When she was eighteen, Belinda was convicted of stabbing her pimp. She hadn’t meant to kill him, just hurt him. She’d been on the streets since she was fourteen, when her mother stopped the car and told her to get out, and she had learned to take care of herself. Or at least stay alive. She spent the next twenty-two years behind bars. The day she was released from the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, it was raining. She was wearing sweat pants a size too large and a cheap nylon jacket, clothes brought in by a friend the day before. She was lit up, like a girl rushing out to meet her prom date. There was no prom date. There was a clutch of late-middle-aged women from a faith-based group that had connected with her in prison. There was a dog. It was one of the dogs she had helped train as part of a prison-run canine companions program. She briefly hugged the women, then got down on one knee and nuzzled the dog for a long moment. The dog remembered her.
Winner - Oregon Book Award | Nautilus Book Award
Clear-eyed and compassionate, Free follows six people emerging from prison. Their diverse stories paint an intimate portrait of struggle, persistence, and resilience.
The Reviews are In…
“It is nothing short of phenomenal to read these stories of people who move from prison to freedom. Lauren Kessler’s immersion journalism gives us a place from which to witness the world we’ve made, and how people who make mistakes must learn to navigate through it against impossible odds.”
—Lidia Yuknavich, best-selling author of Verge and The Book of Joan
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In this empathetic and visceral account, journalist Kessler documents the achievements and setbacks of six formerly incarcerated people as they attempt to reenter society. Her immersion into her subjects’ lives allows Kessler to convey to readers the immense challenges of life after prison. This powerful argument in favor of a better support system for those who have served their time rings true. Read more.
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With tenderness and empathy, Lauren Kessler speaks to how and where we fail the thousands of individuals coming out of prison every year. Kessler asks us to get to know these six men and women and to come to understand and celebrate their remarkable journeys. I love the writing in this important and timely book. These moving stories will stay with you.
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A gripping and empathetic work of immersion journalism. Piercing…poignant…riveting…unforgettable. Through stories, Kessler asks us to reckon with fundamental questions–what is justice? what is rehabilitation?–alongside the fundamental facts of the barriers facing those who go through a system that doesn’t often seem to deliver either. Read more.
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You will want to read this book. It is that damn good.
