First published 2022
Melissa Gilbert opens her story in a dilapidated house in the Catskill Mountains, far from the Hollywood spotlight that defined her career since childhood. The former Little House on the Prairie star finds herself wielding hammers instead of scripts, her days consumed by repairs that seem endless. Her husband introduced her to rural Michigan first, where she rediscovered her connection to the natural world. When work brought them to New York, they chose this rustic cottage as their refuge, though "rustic" barely captures its sorry state. The pandemic arrives and pushes Gilbert further from her old life. She abandons Botox appointments for home improvement projects. Power lunches give way to tending gardens and raising chickens. Each day brings new challenges as she transforms both the house and herself. The woman who once played Laura Ingalls Wilder now lives her own version of that story, trading celebrity for simplicity. Gilbert chronicles this journey with humor and honesty, showing how a crumbling house became the foundation for rebuilding her life.
Genres: autobiography, contemporary, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family, second-chance
Setting: Catskill Mountains, Michigan, New York
Period: Pandemic
288 pages · Hardcover · Gallery Books