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Chosen Forever: a memoir
by Susan Richards
Hardcover : 278 pages
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Introduction
The sequel to The New York Times Bestseller Chosen by a Horse, a Book Sense Pick and a B&N Discover Pick When Susan Richards adopted an abused horse rescued by the local SPCA she didn’t know how Lay Me Down’s loving nature would touch her heart—and change her life. Susan, a writing teacher, had lost her mother at the age of five and been abandoned by her father to uncaring relatives; she had endured an unhappy marriage ending in divorce and had self-medicated for anxiety (and repressed anger) with alcohol. For more than a decade she had aspired to be published, but it was only with the memoir she wrote to honor Lay Me Down that she achieved this goal. The book led to a book tour, in the course of which Susan reconnected with family and friends. But even more joyously, at the second reading on her tour she met the man who had sold her his house twenty-four years earlier, a world famous photographer, Dennis Stock. And they fell in love.
Excerpt
P R E FACE Winters can feel endless and gray when you live alone on a farm in upstate New York, and the winter of 2005 was the worst. I’d owned my home for twenty-four years and had spent the last ten trying to earn a living teaching as an adjunct in a nearby college, while at the same time devoting myself to a lifelong dream, writing. After completing two novels and a memoir, I remained unpublished. I’d had three agents, but had not sold a book. I was a fifty-fiveyear- old single woman facing a professional and financial crisis. I couldn’t support myself on an adjunct’s salary and I could no longer afford to spend time writing books that didn’t sell. I was depressed and full of fears about the future. Then my memoir, about a racehorse named Lay Me Down that I had adopted, was accepted for publication. I had no idea, on the raw, rainy day years earlier when Lay Me Down hobbled into my life, of the extent to which my future had just been changed. In an uncharacteristic moment, I had responded to an SPCA appeal and offered to take in one of more than forty Standardbred horses rescued from an abusive owner. I had selected a horse by the name of Current Squeeze from a list on which she was number 10. As I confronted the milling herd of frightened mares and foals in the paddock and attempted to locate the brass tag that bore the number 10 hanging from the cheek latch of one of their worn-out halters, a sick, emaciated bay mare followed by her foal walked up the ramp to my trailer of her own volition. This was Lay Me Down. I took her home to join the three horses I already had and things were never the same again. During the years that she lived on my farm, her gentle, loving nature helped me to heal from my own difficult past, which continued its grip on my present. My family had disintegrated with the death of my mother from leukemia when I was five years old. My father had abandoned my older brother and me to the care of relatives. His mother, an elderly martinet, became my guardian, and I went to live in virtual isolation—except for horses—at her home in Rye, New York and, a few months later, on her estate in South Carolina. My brother and I were separated, as he was sent to a boarding school in another state. I spent my adult years distancing myself as much as possible from the stranger-relatives among whom I had subsequently been passed, who had taken me in grudgingly. I had severed my relationship with the past, or so I thought. I had believed that I was destined to be alone in this world. Lay Me Down showed me how wrong I was. Her affectionate spirit, her willingness to risk loving me after all she had been through, was an inspiration. The novels I had labored over were written so I could call myself a writer.The memoir was created in honor of Lay Me Down, as a tribute to her.After I finished it, I thought I understood the magnitude of what she had given me. Then the book, entitled Chosen by a Horse, was published in 2006 and I learned that the most profound gifts were still to come. Not all gifts look appealing at first. When my publisher decided to send me on a regional book tour beginning that spring, I was fearful and shy. Readings, book signings, newspaper and radio interviews—the public face of publishing was exciting but difficult for me, as someone who had lived a relatively solitary life tucked away on a small horse farm for so many years. But the tour was a boon, bringing me back in touch with old friends and important family members with whom I had lost contact.The tour was a reminder that when you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing in this life, amazing things can happen. view abbreviated excerpt only...Discussion Questions
1. Is perseverance as important as inspiration to a would-be writer? Discuss.2. Can a woman inspire love if she thinks she’s unattractive?
3. Do you think that the more than twenty-year age difference between Susan and Dennis should have prevented them from marrying?
Notes From the Author to the Bookclub
Dear Readers, This is my second memoir, a sequel to Chosen By a Horse. It’s about what can happen when you step outside your comfort zone and are willing to take a risk. I wrote the first memoir as a tribute to a horse who helped show me that living a life of avoidance and isolation wasn’t the way to fix a broken heart. Little did I know that the gifts from this gentle creature, who had stumbled into my life so unexpectedly, would continue to appear for years to come in ways I never could have imagined. I wrote Chosen Forever because what began as something scary and bad had turned into something precious and good; because in midlife I grew in ways I didn’t think possible, because a dream had came true and I wanted to understand what had made this possible. Chosen Forever traces the incredible circumstances that led to my finding an unexpected love. I’ll gladly call in to your next book club meeting. Please email me at [email protected] to enter to win one of five signed copies of Chosen Forever. Thank you for selecting my book, Susan RichardsBook Club Recommendations
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