By: Ann Bancroft
ISBN: 978-1647426668
She Writes Press, 2024
Liz Millanova has stage four cancer, a grown daughter who doesn’t speak to her, and obsessive memories of a relationship that tore apart her marriage. She thinks of herself as someone who’d rather die than sit through a support group, but now that she actually is going to die, she figures she might as well give it a go.
Mercy’s Thriving Survivors is a hospital-sponsored group held in a presumably less depressing location: a Nordstrom’s employee training lounge. There, Liz hits it off with two other patients, and the three unlikely friends decide to ditch the group and meet on their own. They call themselves the Oakland Mets, and their goal is to enjoy life while they can. Together, Dave, a gay Vietnam vet, Rhonda, a devout, nice woman who’s hiding a family secret and finds peace in a gospel choir, and snarky Liz plan outings to hear jazz, enjoy nature, and tour Alcatraz. In the odd intimacy they form, Liz learns to open up and get close, acknowledge and let go of the dysfunction in her marriage, and repair her relationship with her daughter. They joined forces to have a good time—but what they wind up doing is helping one another come to grips with terminal cancer and resolve the unfinished business in their lives.
About the Author
Ann Bancroft, author of Almost Family, began writing fiction after a career in journalism and communications. Her first job after graduating from UC Berkeley was as “copy boy” at the Oakland Tribune, at a time when there were few women in the newsroom. She soon was promoted to the city room, and later worked in the State Capitol bureaus of the San Francisco Chronicle and the Associated Press, While a mother to a young son, she stayed home to freelance for magazines and op-ed pages, ghostwrote two nonfiction books and co-wrote, with Father Dan Madigan, Many Hands, Many Miracles, the history of Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services (University of Notre Dame press). She\\\'s been an editorial writer, speechwriter, journalism teacher and communications director. Ann is an alumna of the Community of Writers and the Tomales Bay Writers Workshops. In addition to working on her second novel, Ann leads workshops to help writers find their voice and generate story ideas. A two-time breast cancer survivor, she has mentored dozens of cancer patients through the UC Davis Cancer Center and a local breast cancer organization. She and her husband live in Sacramento and Coronado, California.
To learn more about Ann Bancroft and her work, please see www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0CD9RX6S8