Gracie Bell, Imprint of Akashic Books, to Focus on Books about Grief and Recovery

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How can you bear the weight of grief? How can you survive the searing burn of loss or deal with the dull, consistent ache that lingers after the death of a loved one?

Many people find help in books.

Gracie Bell Will Focus on Books About Grief and Recovery

Ann Hood, Akashic Books, and their new imprint called Gracie Bell are going to help people get through the grief and on the road to recovery through reading about love, loss, grief, and the journey to recovery.

Ann Hood is a prolific writer and novelist, with numerous published works including “The Knitting Circle,” “The Italian Wife,” “The Book that Matters Most,” and “The Obituary Writer” just to name a few. Her world came to a screeching halt in 2002, however, when her 5-year-old daughter, Gracie Bell, died suddenly from a lethal strain of strep throat. The tragedy reverberated through the life of Hood’s family. It shook her ability to read and write. Grief never left and often reared its head at unexpected moments. But comfort, too, came at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.

Ann Hood to Lead New Imprint

What resulted was Hood’s memoir, “Comfort: A Journey Through Grief,” published in 2008. Entertainment Weekly praised the book, remarking, “Rarely do memoirs of grief combine anguish, love, and fury with such elegance.” And Kirkus Reviews acknowledged it as “A loving tribute by turns harrowing and beautiful.”

Books about grief and recovery help us know we are not alone

The point of this is that Ann Hood understands grief. She also understands the healing power of stories and the knowledge that other people, too, have survived devastating loss. “Of course it’s sad,” Hood says, “but I think a good grief memoir not only helps others who are suffering loss, but also gives hope that they can get to the other side.”

In the past, publishing houses were reluctant to invest in grief literature because they thought that no one wanted to read about such a sad topic. But Akaschic Press, an independent publisher in Brooklyn, New York, is changing that. The firm developed a new imprint called Gracie Bell that will specialize in books about grieving, healing, remembering, and moving on. Ann Hood will head the new imprint.

Reading About Grief Can Help Us Heal

Perhaps openly acknowledging grief and its debilitating effects — instead of just saying that it is “too sad” to read about — will promote healing. After all, each and every one of us will suffer from loss or grief at some time in our lives. Wouldn’t it be helpful to talk about it and offer ways to ease the pain? That’s what Akashic Books and the Gracie Bell imprint under the direction of Ann Hood hope to do.

Gracie Bell books launched their first book this month, a memoir by Catharine Murray entitled “Now You See the Sky.” Murray’s book recounts the grief suffered when her six-year-old son died of cancer and illustrates how “tragedy can transform us and make us more fully alive.”