Marabai Rose first book Holding Hope

Books

Holding Hope was honored by the Indiana Author Awards in 2024 by it’s inclusion on the shortlist for debut work.

Holding Hope

Holding Hope: One Family’s Odyssey Through Lyme Disease and Psychosis, is a memoir penned by Marabai Rose. Rose’s memoir opens as she is going into respiratory failure and paralysis following a cascade of interventions that have failed to address the unknown bacterial illness ravaging her body.

The reader is invited to travel with with her on the ride through her illness, and her interactions with a dismissive healthcare system. Finally, the reader crests the wave with her as she gets a diagnosis of Lyme disease, only to be plunged downward again by the difficulties of Lyme treatment.

Rose is trying to hold onto to her family, and her identity, while living in a body that no longer functions properly.

As she and her family emerge from her experience with Lyme, and the vagaries of treatment, it becomes clear that her husband is de-stabilizing. The reader then gets to walk by Rose’s side as she lives through the heartbreak and terror of her husband’s multiple, violent, psychotic episodes, which forever change him. In finally accepting that he is lost to her, Rose begins the painstaking process of sorting through her past and rebuilding a life for herself and her children.

This book, at its heart, is about resilience. Rose, a licensed clinical social worker, is working as a therapist during her husband’s psychosis, and she shares insights from the therapy room about her client’s resilience. Insights that allow her to navigate her own world falling apart. As Rose makes sense of her experiences; the reader is invited to think about issues that challenge women faced with both physical and mental illness, such as sexism, and the dissolution of personal identity. Moreover the book spotlights the dysfunction of a healthcare system that allows so many with physical and mental health issues to be persistently ill. The memoir concludes with Rose finding a path forward, that includes new love, and hard earned wisdom.

Marabai's Story in Photos

Click on the images to see more of my story.

Reviews

" I absolutely love this book! Ms. Rose takes you on a deeply personal journey through the darkest nights of the soul. The rollercoaster ride through medical trauma and domestic abuse was very visceral. I felt honored to be able to witness this story. Ms. Rose's story will give hope to many women - both survivors of medical trauma and domestic abuse. The book evokes deep and complex feelings, but ultimately celebrates resilience and hope. I highly recommend it!"

Karen Thursby Author of Dear Girl: A Poetry Collection for Survivors

As a woman in my sixties, I thought that by this point in my life, I had either experienced, witnessed, or read about most of life’s struggles . . . how little I knew. I was totally unprepared for the wide-ranging anguish I read about in Marabai Rose’s book. Her story will inspire any reader, because her compassionate spirit, coupled with her beautifully-crafted writing, resonate on every page.

We hear about people suffering through the terrible onset of an unexpected trauma, but rarely can we feel the unassailable reach of that pain. Through Marabai’s honest writing, not only did I learn about the nearly insurmountable challenges that Lyme Disease can pose—from its devastating effects on the body, to its rippling effects across all aspects of one’s life—I also gained a much deeper understanding of mental illness. How Marabai coped through both of those events, one after the other with no break between, is a marvel. Her story of overcoming such an inscrutable disease brought me to tears. Her grit in challenging and conquering the many obstacles she faced gave me courage. Her determination and commitment to healing inspired me beyond words. And . . . Marabai’s husband’s anguish broke my heart again and again. This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to better understand the human condition and be truly moved by it.

Rebecca Beck, Author