This Life Is in Your Hands

One Dream, Sixty Acres, and a Family Undone

By: Melissa Coleman

Narrated by: Melissa Coleman

“Lyrical and down-to-earth, wry and heartbreaking, This Life Is in Your Hands is a fascinating and powerful memoir. Melissa Coleman doesn’t just tell the story of her family’s brave experiment and private tragedy; she brings to life an important and underappreciated chapter of our recent history.” —Tom Perrotta

In a work of power and beauty reminiscent of Tobias Wolff, Jeannette Walls, and Dave Eggers, Melissa Coleman delivers a luminous, evocative childhood memoir exploring the hope and struggle behind her family's search for a sustainable lifestyle. With echoes of The Liars’ Club and Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Coleman’s searing chronicle tells the true story of her upbringing on communes and sustainable farms along the rugged Maine coastline in the 1970’s, embedded within a moving, personal quest for truth that her experiences produced.

Great viewpoint

I loved the angle this story was told from. As a child watching a family be undone but a movement take form in her father’s psyche. I have built my farm on Eliot’s books and advice and enjoyed hearing how the early years of Four Season Farm molded the present years.

Heartbreaking but courageous story

If you could sum up This Life Is in Your Hands in three words, what would they be?

family, honest, heartbreaking

What was one of the most memorable moments of This Life Is in Your Hands?

The visions painted of children playing carefree on summer days in rugged Maine.

What about Melissa Coleman’s performance did you like?

It's her story... she lived it, earned the right to write about it, and earned the right to narrate it for us. I can't even imagine the feelings she had while not only writing the book, but then also recording the audio version. I can only hope that she found some peace within the process. To hear it told by anyone else would have felt "false".

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It did make me cry! Not so much the actual story of when the inevitable event happened, but more about how each family member dealt with it afterwards.

Beautifully told sadness

Beautifully told memoir of a quiet tragedy. The author’s narration really took me into the story.

So sad

This is probably the saddest story I’ve ever read. Gut wrenching, real. Thank you, Mrs. Coleman for sharing a very hard, very personal story with us. As the mother of a precocious toddler, the daughter of a woman who walked away, and a person who wants to farm, this registered on several levels.

Why do authors have to read their own books?

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would only recommend that someone read this book, not listen.

How could the performance have been better?

Is it just plain arrogance? Is it a control thing? Why, oh why do authors insist on reading their own books? This book could have been fantastic, with its gorgeous prose and characters who came alive. But the author deciding to reading the book herself was a horrible mistake. The phrasing is off, the author's voice gets gravelly, and it turns out just plain annoying.