Blog Tour: Who Will Name the Bees? by Sarah Church Vosburgh #interview #nonfiction #memoir #giveaway #rabtbooktours @SCVosburgh @RABTBookTours

Memoir

Date Published: April 22nd

Publisher: Acorn Publishing

When memory fades, what remains?

Sarah Vosburgh has often felt misunderstood by her mother, a woman who lived a quintessential suburban life. But when her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Sarah’s world unravels, and she must confront a disease that will only worsen. As roles reverse between mother and daughter, Sarah faces the guilt of making decisions she hopes are the right ones while also carrying the grief of losing her mom bit by bit everyday. She navigates a labyrinth of health services amid the heartbreaking, and at times darkly humorous, realities of caregiving.

There are the white lies and midnight phone calls, the misbuttoned blouses, and the second slice of chocolate pie that tastes just as good as it did the first time. And then there’s the quiet awe at the persistence of connection even when language falters and names are forgotten.

Told in finely wrought prose and lyrical fragments of memory, Who Will Name the Bees? is a daughter's unflinching love letter to the flawed, fierce, and unforgettable woman who raised her.

Interview

What was your main drive to write this book?

It just happened. I had no intention to write a book, or become an author. The stories became compulsory after my mom died. They woke me in the night, and I couldn’t go back to sleep until I wrote down the ideas or an outline. Initially I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I took a memoir writing class at San Diego Writers’ Ink just to see what it was all about, thinking my stories kinda fit. In the end, I put it together in hope that it would help others who were going through a similar season in life which can be oh so very lonely.

What do you hope readers will learn by reading this book?

I would hope they would have some understanding of Alzheimer’s, and some grace for themselves if they are a caregiver, and maybe help them feel not so alone.

Did you do much research when planning this book?

Some, and it’s cited, but mostly it’s experience.

Did you have any main people who helped you in the process of this book or influenced you to write it?

My family, and the Leaders of my memoir class, Tracy Jean Jones, and Marni Freedman. Later, the members of my read and critique group – The Writeous Sisters.

How long did this book take you to write from initial thought to hitting publish?

Given that I didn’t really have the initial “I’m gonna write a book” thought, the process was slow. But I did the bulk of my writing during COVID lockdown when I had no excuse not to. Then I put it in a drawer (figuratively) for a couple of years until Marni and Tracy made me pull it out.

Do you have plans to write more about this topic or new topics?

I still have no intention to write prose. I have always written poetry, and am working on a volume of poetry. I have no intention to write on this topic again, save for a poem or two.

About the Author

It was never in Sarah Vosburgh’s plan to be an author or to write a memoir. As a busy mom, wife, and psychologist, she always saw her life as full (sometimes overfull). But in the dark of night, memories knocked on her brain, compelling her to commit them first to paper, then to bits and bytes.

Sarah is a member of the International Memoir Writers Association and San Diego Writers, Ink. Her work has been published in A Year in Ink and numerous volumes of Shaking the Tree: brazen. short. memoir. A native New Englander, she now lives in San Diego with her husband, her daughter, her granddog, and a most extraordinary feline.

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