Holding

A Memoir About Mothers, Drugs, and Other Comforts

By: Karleigh Frisbie Brogan

Narrated by: Margie Valine

A stunning debut memoir about addiction, self-discovery, and the relationships between mothers and daughters, from an exciting new literary talent

Brogan “[spins] the world’s harshest truths into golden, beautiful sentences” reminiscent of the powerful writing in Wild and In the Dream House (Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman)

Featuring electric, immersive prose and universal insights about human relationships—especially between adult daughters and mothers—this unflinching and deeply moving excavation of her own history and addiction recovery is equally revealing about the American experience in our time.

At age 20, Karleigh Brogan and her boyfriend, Dale, moved into his parents' home. The young couple hid their heroin addiction and promised they would only be there temporarily. What started as a two-week stopgap became two years of habitation. Karleigh and Dale's mother, Glorianne, developed a complex relationship that was both toxic and tender. Glorianne became a stand-in for Karleigh's mother, whose affection and trust Karleigh had always longed for. Simultaneously, Glorianne, an adoptee, searched for the birth mother she never knew.

In Holding, Karleigh Brogan brings the listener into her life before, during, and after her time with Dale and his parents, following the road that led from her endless lies to her family and herself, along the long, crooked, path to breaking the chains of her addiction so she could dream again of achieving the life—and the relationship with her own mother—she longed for.

©2025 Karleigh Frisbie Brogan (P)2025 Steerforth Press

Critic reviews

“A raw and intimate exploration of addiction, mothers and daughters, and families chosen and received. From childhood on, Brogan searches for meaning and connection, in a prose that’s lyrical, inventive, and expansive. A captivating and gorgeous debut.”—Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City

“Brogan is a fearless and intuitive storyteller, spinning the world's harshest truths into golden, beautiful sentences.”—Chelsea Bieker, author of Madwoman

“Riveting, harrowing, and deeply insightful, Karleigh Brogan’s Holding is a memoir not just of addiction and mother hunger, but of an endlessly searching heart. It speaks to the opioid crisis, yes, but really it speaks to what must be soothed in all of us. I gulped this beautiful book down and learned so much from it.”—Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body

Prose!!

I was not particularly keen on the narrator, but about an hour in I stopped caring. The visuals and emotional response I got from the writing carried enough impact I didn’t care that the narrator was so-so.

The “characters” were so compelling and the way the story was written made it interesting from a critical perspective and easily digestible. As someone that enjoys both reading high prose and devouring crappy sci-fi books, this felt right at home.

Looking forward to Brogan’s next work.

outstanding

this memoir was incredible. raw, honest, vulnerable, so well written. just amazing. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves!