Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace [Hardcover]

Kathryn Slattery (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2008

Kathryn Slattery gives readers an up close look at that primal relationship between mother and daughter. Taking the reader on a searing and hopeful journey she tells the story of her mother and herself - two very different people-struggling with the clash of their independent personalities and their need for and eventual dependency on each other. Kathryn shares with readers the family secrets that kept her and her mother at a distance, including alcoholism and eating disorders. And she addresses an issue that many of the baby boomer generation struggle with: the conflict between caring for family, caring for an aging parent and caring for one's soul. Readers will value Kathryn's frankness and honesty, as she tells of her struggles with shame and feelings of inadequacy and of her discovery of the forgiveness and unconditional love available in a personal relationship with Jesus.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anyone who has ever had a strained maternal relationship, harbored a secret addiction, felt the unrelenting pressure of the sandwich generation or struggled to access God's grace through it all should read this beautifully pitched memoir. Slattery (The Grace to Grow) writes of growing up with an emotionally distant mother and a father who eventually slid away into alcoholism. Pressured about her weight, Slattery became bulimic in high school and carried this devastating secret for years. Even after finding Christ in college, she continued to struggle with the cycle of weakness, capitulation and self-loathing until she began to heal with the help of a loving husband. Bits and pieces of the tense mother-daughter relationship thread through the story, until finally, her mother moves into the in-law apartment attached to her home, and Slattery gradually becomes her primary caregiver as her mother's health declines. The grace and insights that leak out over the final decade of their time together soften the harsh edges of Slattery's life story and bring the memoir to a gentle, satisfyingly redemptive close: In God's economy, nothing in life goes to waste. (Mar.)
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Review

Anyone who has... had a strained maternal relationship... should read this beautifully pitched memoir [with] a gentle, satisfyingly redemptive close. --Publishers Weekly

... intimate... deeply moving... Lost & Found is one of those books where once you start reading, you won t be able to set it down. --Crossings Book Club

... a story of grace and healing that will impact many lives... I m pleased to have [Lost & Found] in our church library. --Rick Warren, best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: GuidepostsBooks (March 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824947347
• ISBN-13: 978-0824947347
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kathryn "Kitty" Slattery loves writing stories about faith and inspiration. She has written hundreds of articles for a wide variety of publications, including ParentLife, Today's Christian Woman, and Angels on Earth magazines, and she is a longtime Contributing Editor for Guideposts magazine.

She is the author of HEART SONGS: A Family Treasury of True Stories of Hope and Inspiration (Guideposts Inspiring Voices), LOST & FOUND: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace (GuidepostsBooks), IF I COULD ASK GOD ANYTHING: Awesome Bible Answers for Curious Kids (Thomas Nelson), GRANDMA I'LL MISS YOU: A Child's Story about Death and New Life (David C. Cook), THE GRACE TO GROW: The Power of Christian Faith in Emotional Healing, and A BRIGHT-SHINING PLACE: the Story of a Miracle. Her popular children's book THE GOSPEL FOR KIDS (David C. Cook) has more than 100,000 copies in print in nine languages. Kathryn is also a contributing author to numerous "Best of" Guideposts anthologies, and writes the "Kids' Question of the Week" blog for Tommynelson.com, and is a "Local Voices" blogger for The Patch.

Kathryn, who is known as "Kitty," resides in Connecticut with her husband Tom, where they are the parents of two grown children and happy owners of a roly-poly pug named Max.

Visit Kathryn and learn more about her work at www.KathrynSlattery.com, and on Facebook: Kathryn "Kitty" Slattery.

BOOKS by Kathryn Slattery:

HEART SONGS: A Family Treasury of True Stories of Hope and Inspiration
Guideposts Inspiring Voices, 2012. Inspirational collection of true first-person exploring the joys and challenges of family life, plus three of the author's popular children's stories. Illustrated. For all ages.

LOST & FOUND: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace
GuidepostsBooks, 2008. Inspirational memoir about forgiveness and reconciliation between a daughter and her mother. Crossings Book Club selection. Family Circle Book of the Month.

IF I COULD ASK GOD ANYTHING: Awesome Bible Answers for Curious Kids
Thomas Nelson Publishers,2006; 2nd Edition, 2010. Answers to questions about God and faith for ages 6 and up.

GRANDMA, I'LL MISS YOU: A Child's Story about Death and New Life
Chariot Books, David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1993. For ages 5 and up.

THE GOSPEL FOR KIDS
Chariot Books, David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1989; Cook Communications Ministries International, Portuguese, Hungarian, Czech, Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish, Slovak, and Spanish paperback editions, 1999. More than 100,000 copies in print. The story of Jesus for children ages 5 and up.

THE GRACE TO GROW: The Power of Christian Faith in Emotional Healing
Word Books, 1984; Bantam Books paperback, 1985; Spanish and French editions, Vida Press, 1985, 1986; Fairway Press paperback, 1996. Written with Dr. William P. Wilson, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and founder of the program for Christianity in Medicine at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.

A BRIGHT SHINING PLACE: The Story of a Miracle
Doubleday Books, 1981; Ballantine Books paperback, 1983; Harrison House, Inc., paperback, 1988. Written with gospel singer Cheryl Prewitt Salem, Miss America, 1980.

CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR:

THE BEST OF GUIDEPOSTS CHRISTMAS STORIES, Guideposts 2005
THE BEST STORIES FROM GUIDEPOSTS, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1997
THE POWER OF FAITH, Inspirational Press, New York, 1997
A VERY PRESENT HELP: God's Power in Our Lives, Guideposts, 1985
THE UNLIMITED POWER OF PRAYER, Doubleday, 1982
THE GUIDEPOSTS DAILY DEVOTIONAL, 1982, 1981
THE GUIDEPOSTS FAMILY CHRISTMAS BOOK, "Emmett McCallister's Christmas Eve: An Old Tale Retold," 1981

MAGAZINE/EDITORIAL:

GUIDEPOSTS Magazine: 16 East 34 Street, New York, NY 10016
Contributing Editor, 1977 to present
Author, FINDINGS web series on Guideposts.com, 2009 to present
Director, Guideposts Writers Workshop (National Writers Contest) 2000 - 2005
Director, Guideposts Young Writers Contest (National High School College Scholarship Competition) 2000 - 2005

GUIDEPOSTS is one of the nation's Top Ten magazines, with a paid circulation of over 2 million and estimated monthly readership of over 12 million. A non-profit, interfaith publication, Guideposts was founded nearly 75 years ago by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and features true, first-person stories of faith, hope and inspiration by people from all walks of life. Cover stories ghostwritten for Guideposts include: Brian Williams, Robert Duvall, Emme, Fred Rogers, Diane Sawyer, Heather Headley, Ricardo Montalban, Ed Asner, Ginny Thornburgh, and Alberta Hunter. Hundreds of other stories include: CeCe Winans, Robby Benson, Dick Van Patten, Robert K. Massie, Rosey Grier, B.J. Thomas, and numerous personal stories dealing largely with the struggles and joys of parenthood and family life.

EDUCATION:

B.A., Mass Communications, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, 1973

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Poignant Journey to Heal and Reconnect, May 10, 2008

By 

Michael Lee Stallard (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace (Hardcover)

Each of us experience times in life when we feel alone and disconnected. The lack of relational intimacy with the people we love can be especially painful. It often contributes to unhealthy behaviors as a means to cope with the pain. In the stories of individuals who break their addiction, you will nearly always find one person or a group of people who helped heal the wounds of the addicted with love and encouragement.

Lost & Found is the poignant story of Kathryn Slattery, a contributing editor of Guideposts magazine and author of several books. In the book, Kitty describes her disconnection with her mother and father, the onset of bulimia, how her husband Tom's love and encouragement helped her overcome bulimia, and finally how Kitty reconnected with her parents.

I enjoyed this book. As a writer and speaker about the importance of connection in organizations, I was interested to see that some of the same dynamics that affect relationships in the workplace were also at play in Kitty's story. Lost & Found helped me see several examples of how connections are diminished and how they can be restored. Excessive criticism, lack of transparency, perceived indifference, geographic dislocation and alcohol are the agents of disconnection in Kitty's story. Kitty's husband Tom becomes the primary agent of re-connection and it is his affection, steady optimism and encouragement that help heal her wounds and give her the strength to overcome bulimia. Eventually, with time, healing and self-reflection, Kitty is able to reconnect with her mother and father.

I recommend this book. On one level, this is Kitty's story; on another, it is a study of the powerful effect of relationships and connection in our lives. It will be especially valuable to those who feel disconnected from their parents or other family members. I imagine most of us feel that way with at least some of our family members. It will help you think about what contributed to disconnection in your own life and how to restore it. Lost & Found is an ideal book for a book group. It would stimulate a lot of discussion around the connections and disconnections in our lives. These conversations tend to be healing too.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant memoir~, April 20, 2010

By 

Veronica - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace (Hardcover)

Beautiful delineation of how the grace of God can heal all wounds and create new life; a very moving memoir.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heart warming!!!!!!!!!!, February 26, 2010

By 

Sara S. Marshall - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lost & Found: One Daughter's Story of Amazing Grace (Hardcover)

Kitty's book was such an honest, open, heartwarming personal story!!

A true life lesson in how "Nothing is wasted in God's economy"

Sara Marshall