Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Evicted meets Nickel and Dimed in Stephanie Lands memoir about working as a maid, a beautiful and gritty exploration of poverty in America. Includes a foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich.
At 28, Stephanie Lands plans of breaking free from the roots of her hometown in the Pacific Northwest to chase her dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer, were cut short when a summer fling turned into an unexpected pregnancy. She turned to housekeeping to make ends meet, and with a tenacious grip on her dream to provide her daughter the very best life possible, Stephanie worked days and took classes online to earn a college degree, and began to write relentlessly.
She wrote the true stories that werent being told: the stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. Of living on food stamps and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) coupons to eat. Of the government programs that provided her housing, but that doubled as halfway houses. The aloof government employees who called her lucky for receiving assistance while she didnt feel lucky at all. She wrote to remember the fight, to eventually cut through the deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor.
Maid explores the underbelly of upper-middle class America and the reality of what its like to be in service to them. Id become a nameless ghost, Stephanie writes about her relationship with her clients, many of whom do not know her from any other cleaner, but who she learns plenty about. As she begins to discover more about her clients lives-their sadness and love, too-she begins to find hope in her own path.
Her compassionate, unflinching writing as a journalist gives voice to the servant worker, and those pursuing the American Dream from below the poverty line. Maid is Stephanies story, but its not her alone. It is an inspiring testament to the strength, determination, and ultimate triumph of the human spirit.
Author: Stephanie Land
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Legacy Lit
Published: 01/22/2019
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9780316505116
Language: English
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